308 BARROW, &C., ON TREWAVAS HEAD. 



Although I could find no fragments of pottery or implements 

 thrown out by the explorer, I observed that on the north-west side 

 of the baiTOW, in particular, were numerous broken flints, none of 

 which, perhaps, had been actually used as weapons, but were pos- 

 sibly mere refuse chippings struck off in the course of manufacture. 

 Some pieces appeared to have been calcined and split by fire. 

 Since my visit, in 1865, Dr. Le Neve Foster informs me that he 

 found near this spot a flint-core from which two or three flakes 

 had been taken. That these flints had some relative connection 

 with the interment which had been made here, there can be little 

 doubt ; for, independently of the custom of depositing with the 

 dead flint weapons, fragments of this material were also, for some 

 special purpose not yet explained, though a well-known fact 

 to those who have examined early tumuli, thrown over the body 

 in the funeral pyre. Accompanying these are also often found 

 pebbles and boulders from the beach, which I have observed in 

 examining barrows several miles from the shore. Within a few 

 yards north of the barrow numerous flint chippings also occur ; 

 but I could discover none in searching along the clifis eastward 

 and westward of the spot. Such has been the result in other 

 instances of investigation which I have made ; particularly in the 

 Lizard district, Avhere, in the remains of barrows, I found very good 

 flint-flakes, whilst none were to be met with in the surrounding 

 soil — proving the great value that was, for some reason, attached 

 to this material for use in funereal observances. Near other 

 ancient works in CornAvall I have frequently picked up flint-flakes 

 and chippings ; but I have failed to discover any in places devoid 

 of the traces of occupation in primitive times. In the recent ex- 

 ploration of the Treveneague Cave we procured a flint nodule and 

 a well-formed flint-flake, evidently brought from a great distance, 

 and placed there by man. In the Museum of the Penzance 

 Natural History and Antiquarian Society is an excellent flint-flake 

 which, with bronze celts, was found at Leah, in the parish of S. 

 Burian, in peat soil, ten feet below the present surface of the 

 ground. It is a carefully fashioned instrument, somewhat re- 

 sembling those classed as " scrapers " in Sir John Lubbock's 

 " Pre-Historic Times " ; and, when discovered, its broad cutting 

 edge was almost as sharp as a steel blade. Not having been taken 



