136 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 



we might very well gather into a summary and supple- 

 ment by systematic observation and combined study and 

 comparison. 



I am not aware of any list — any accurate list — of 

 the Inscribed Stones which exist in Central Northumber- 

 land. Yet such a catalogue, with accurate drawings of 

 the various figures or designs cut into those stones, and 

 giving a description of the locality and position in which 

 they are found, could not but assist in solving some of the 

 problems of the social life and religion of the pre-historic 

 dwellers in the hills and uplands of the northern parts 

 of Britain. We should be better able, by comparison, to 

 judge how far the markings were merely ornament, or 

 whether they were records, or whether they belonged to 

 some useful art, or as many suppose were necessary 

 adjuncts to sacrificial rites. And one more point requiring 

 connotation is what indications are there that these stones 

 were surrounded by, or were removed from such centres 

 of population as then existed ? If they are of the nature 

 of sacrificial altars, can they give us any information how 

 far the religion of which they are the symbols, was bound 

 up with the life of the tribe, or was an element afiecting 

 that life altogether from without ? Was the religion 

 confined to a priestly caste and practised for the most 

 part secretly in remote and not easily accessible places ? 



And lastly, it seems to me that an effort might be made 

 to study the situation of groujis of Camps, to see how far 

 they are indicative of an organised line of defence, from 

 which we might learn something more of a people whose 

 history is yet open to enquiry, and whose dwellings on 

 the crests of our hills suggest modes of living still unknown 

 to us. 



I beg to thank you for your forbearance on this as 

 on all occasions. You have made my tenure of office not 

 only pleasant but in my life memorable by your kindness. 

 My many failings you have so constantly ignored, and 

 shown a readiness to recognise and even appreciate in 

 all my poor efforts whatever there was of good intention. 



