150 



III. — Bescription of an Ancient Lamp, called in the Meneage district 

 a Chil. By Egbert Blight, communicated hj Mr. N. 

 Whitley. 



Bead at the Annual Meetinff, November 24rch, 1874, 



EVEEAL domestic articles foiinerty in general use in West 

 Cornwall, with niau}' of our time honoured customs, are 

 apidly disai^peariug before the march of modern refinement, which 



is pervading the cottage of 

 the poor and the mansion of 

 the rich. 



I am not aware that either 

 a written description, model, 

 or engraving has been pre- 

 served in the Museum of the 

 Eoyal Institution of Corn- 

 wall of this ancient lamp or 

 Chil, which, forty years ago, 

 illuminated the dwellings of 

 , fishermen, many farm houses, 

 ^ and the labourer's cottages ; 

 ^ it was simple in its construc- 

 tion, inexpensive in material 

 and very economical, particu- 

 larly so in the early part of 

 the present century, when 

 other artificial lights were 

 few in number, and costly in 

 price. 



The engraving accompanying this paper was made from the 

 drawing of a Chil that had been in use many years in a 

 labourer's cottage in one of the twelve parishes situated to the 

 south of Helston, a large agricultural district, known by the 

 Phoenician name, Meneg. 



