394 Observations to he made in railway cuttings. 



The facts, which the first barrow here described discloses, 

 suggest many questions, hard perhaps to solve, but worthy of 

 solution, and are indeed of the highest interest. Why were 

 some bodies buried unburnt, whilst others were consumed by 

 fire ? Were the burnt bodies those of slaves or wives, killed 

 to be ready for the chief in the land of the departed ? What 

 was the purpose of the small urn placed by the side of the 

 corpse ? Did it contain food for the use of the departed, in the 

 interval whilst he lay in the tomb ? The flint arrow-head or 

 the bronze spear laid beside the hunter and warrior, or en- 

 closed in the urn among the calcined bones, speak of war and 

 the chase in other worlds, or, as some think, they tell of a 

 purpose accomplished with their owner's death; but what 

 mean the flint flakes,* mere shapeless chippings, of which so 

 many are found, accompanying the old interments ? These 

 and many similar enquiries suggest themselves on the opening 

 of a barrow, and it is only by the record of many such 

 openings that we can hope for an answer to them all. 



Summary of poirits suggested hy the Berwickshire Natu- 

 ralists' Club as deserving of ohseriation during the pro- 

 gress of the Berwickshire Railway, 1862. 



Many discoveries of Geological and Antiquarian interest 

 having been made in opening out lines of new railways, the 

 following Summary has been drawn out with the view of indi- 

 cating to the Contractors for the Berwickshire Railway, and 

 other parties interested in such matters, the points to which 

 their attention should more particularly be directed. 



I. GEOLOGY. (1.) Old Rocks. 



1. The lines of junction between different rock formations 

 are of interest ; — as between the igneous rocks {i. e. whin- 

 stone, greenstone, porphyry, &c.) and sedimentary rocks 

 (^. e. sandstones, slates, &c.) ; — or as between sedimentary 

 rocks of different ages, — to see how the more recent rocks 

 have been deposited over the edges of the older rocks, after 

 the latter had been elevated and contorted. 



2. Any metals or unusual minerals and crystals in the rocks 

 are of interest ; and specimens of them should be laid aside. 



3. Any appearances of fossil remains, (^. e. the bones or 

 teeth of animals, scales of fish, shells or impressions of shells 



* In 1861, about half a mile west of these barrows, were found, under a 

 large flat stone, the upper surface of which was exposed to the day, more than 

 three-score flint flakes, laid in a heap, but without any appearance of bones, or 

 of there ever having been an interment there. 



