Ai Swindon. 117 



Romans, as described by Tacitus, were. The floors of these rooms 

 were supported on stout pillars formed of square tiles, beneath, 

 which flues for conveying the hot air passed. The rooms were so 

 constructed that persons might go from those of a low temperature 

 to those which were much hotter, and subsequently retire through 

 rooms gradually reduced to the ordinary heat. No chimneys were 

 discovered, and it is probable that much of the smoke from the 

 flues escaped into the rooms above. The most interesting discovery 

 in this Villa, however, was an ornament, consisting of two large 

 boar's tusks, fastened together in a crescent form by means of a 

 sculptured bronze setting. The purpose for which this ornament 

 had been used was for some time unknown, until Mr. J. T. Aker- 

 man (of the Antiquarian Society) produced an ornament of precisely 

 similar character, which is to the present day worn upon the breasts 

 of the horses of the Arab Chiefs — its purpose serving, as they sup- 

 pose, to avert the evil eye. Mr. Scrope adduced quotations from 

 Silius Italicus and another classic author in which this kind of 

 ornament is alluded to — in the one instance, as suspended from the 

 neck of a favorite deer ; in the other, as hung round the neck of a 

 horse ; and a remarkable confirmation of its use occurs in a sculp- 

 ture on Trajan's Column at Rome, where the charger of the 

 Emperor is represented with this crescent-shaped ornament sus- 

 pended upon its chest. Another very interesting discovery was 

 also made in the cemetery attached to this Villa. Three separate 

 modes of burial were observed : — In one, the body was buried entire 

 in a stone coffin ; in another, it was buried in the ground without 

 a coffin ; and in the third, it had been burnt, and the ashes deposited 

 in a hollow cavity carved in a large block of stone. The lecture 

 throughout excited much interest. 



Owing to the lateness of the hour, Mr. Cunnington's Paper on 

 the " Mineral Springs of Wiltshire " was obliged to be deferred. 



THIRD DAY. FRIDAY, August 17th. 



This morning there was another excursion : the first point of 

 attraction being Highworth Church, a curious old barn, and other 

 objects of interest in that locality. Thence to Hannington Hall 



