Aiuiicersary Address. 243 



actions. But it was a much more important step for the club 

 itself to enter on attempts at exploration and discovery. These 

 vestiges of primaeval humanity cannot be too highly estimated. 

 They belong to a period anterior to all written history ; so 

 that if we desire to know anything of the races who inhabited 

 our country, at that early epoch, we must endeavour to de- 

 cipher the traces which they have left of themselves in their 

 habitations and sepulchral monuments. It is scarcely neces- 

 sary to remark with what interest the members present ex- 

 amined this ancient town in all its details ; — the massive 

 unhewn masonry, — the peculiar forms of the dwellings, — the 

 structure of the floors, — the positions of the doors, — and the 

 thick walls with mysterious cells in them. If any further 

 proof were needed to show the general sense of the club as to 

 the importance of these explorations, it would be the large 

 attendance of members, who, to witness the operations in pro- 

 gress, had come to a remote spot among barren hills, having 

 for that purpose left their homes at an early hour, and in 

 weather anything but propitious, I would only add, how 

 much we all felt that we were indebted to our Secretary for 

 watching the excavations, and for laying before us, as he did 

 at our Alnwick meeting, a most interesting report detailing 

 what had been done and discovered. 



One of the things found at Linhope was a broken Quern, 

 which indicates that corn was a part of the food of the in- 

 habitants, and suggested the inquiry, where was the corn 

 grown, and what were the means of culture ? This inquiry 

 seems to be answered by certain marks of a very rude hus- 

 bandry on the sides of the hills in this neighbourhood, to 

 which Mr. Carr first drew attention. Some of these marks 

 have the appearance of horizontal shelves. In the circular 

 sent round to members, intimating the Linhope meeting, and 

 specifying some of the objects worthy of attention, these shelves 

 are taken notice of as ' marked terraces, apparently formed 

 by the action of water,' — a theory which was undoubtedly 

 commonly entertained. Having some experience of the phe- 

 nomena of ancient water terraces and raised beaches, I went 



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