TEANSACTIONS 01' THE SUCTIONS. 187 



stone monuments, but we find a similar custom in the setting up of posts of wood 

 with tables in front made of bamboo ; and this has led the author to think that 

 these ver}^ perishable constructions gave rise to the erection of the raouolltli and 

 dolmen as seen in the Khasi Hills adjacent on the east, the object of both tribes in 

 setting them up being- as a propitiation of good fortune. Setting up curiously 

 carved and peeled rods is anotlier peculiar custom, particularly as it has Ijeen 

 noticed by i\[r. St. Jolm in Arahan. The Atong clan is an interesting section of 

 the Garo Iribe, speaking a ditierent dialect containing many words used on the 

 Munipur side ; this, Vvdth their better stature and appearance, points to a former 

 emigration from that side. The use of the bow and arrow conlined to the Khasi, 

 the Garos carrying only spears and sharp swords, is an interesting fact in tribes 

 living so close together. 



Drawings of the graves and the carved posts &c. were given, and notice made of 

 the dress and points of dili'erence between the Langam and other Garos, 



On the Barroivs of the YorhsJiire Wolds. 

 By the Eev. W. Green well, M.A., F.S.A. 



This paper was confined to a description of the round barrows and their con- 

 tents. In general form these barrows are either conical or bowl-shaped. It is pro- 

 bable that many had originally an encircling mound or a ditch, or both, at the base ; 

 but if such were the case, all traces of these enclosures have been destroyed. The 

 barrows were constructed of the materials nearest at hand, more commonly of earth 

 than of chalk. They are usually associated in groups, but a single barrow is not 

 imcommon. As a rule, they have been erected on high ground. Holes are often 

 found imder tlie mounds, sunk below the natural surface of the soil ; the author 

 suggests that these may probably have been the receptacles of food or other perish- 

 able material. Animal bones are usually scattered through the mounds, and appear 

 to 1)6 the remains of feasts : flints and potsherds also occur among the materials of 

 the barrows. The bodies buried tmder the mounds occur at various levels, the 

 central burial being usually in a grave excavated in the chalk. Generally there is 

 nothing to protect the body from the pressiu-e of the overlying soil, interments in 

 cists being almost entirely unknown in the Wolds. Earely the body has been 

 protected by a coffin formed of a hollow tree-trunk. The remains of the body, 

 when burnt, are sometimes enclosed in a urn. Secondary interments are common, 

 and the bodies previotislj' biu-ied have been thereby disturbed and the bones scat- 

 tered. Some cases of apparent disturbance suggest the idea that the flesh may 

 have been removed from the bones before burial, and the naked bones deposited in 

 tlie barrow. In some instances the btirials were by inhumation, in others after 

 cremation, the former practice being by far the more common in the Wolds. The 

 one process does not appear to have been older than the other ; nor has the difi'er- 

 ence in question been one of social rank or of sex. In cases of biu'ial by inhuma- 

 tion, the unburnt body is always found lying on the side in a contracted position, 

 with the knees drawn up towards the head. This was evidently not due to the 

 requirements of space, but must have originated in some settled principle, tlie 

 meaning of which is not understood, but which appears to have been common to 

 all mankind at a certain stage of development. Perhaps it was in imitation of the 

 natural posture assumed in sleep when the individual sought warmth. The direc- 

 tion of the body seems to follow no rule. Some barrows are found empty — the 

 so-called cenotaphs ; but the author believes that in most cases such barrows have 

 not been exhaustively searched; if really empty, he believes this due to docav of 

 the skeleton, and not to the mound having been originally unoccupied. Charcoal 

 is generally found associated with unburnt bodies; and the author suggests that this 

 maybe the remains of the fire through which the corpse was passed, when actuallv 

 burning tlie dead had become to some extent a merely representative custom. If 

 this be so, cremation must have been universal, even v\-itii tho.?e bodies which are 

 apparently unburnt. It is lilcely that the unburnt bodies -were laid in the gra\e 

 clothed. The barrows contain niunerous weapons and implements of stone (includ- 

 ing flint), of bronze, and rarely of bone or horn, Tlie catalogue of stone iniplenienls 



