14 D. PIDGEOlf ON EECENT DISCOYEEIES 



" head " ? Why did they not light their fires upon it? On trial, 

 however, it was found that such fragments of Devonian rock as 

 the breccia contains fly to pieces with great violence on being 

 heated, and were therefore quite unfit for the construction of fire- 

 places. Einally, the floor-like structure, the heat-cracked stones, 

 the presence of apparently true charcoal, and the proved unfitness 

 of the breccia for hearth-building, suggested the conclusion that 

 man had roamed in Torbay at some period subsequent to the depo- 

 sition of the breccia capping the Trias, and prior to the deposition of 

 the clay in which the submerged forest is rooted. 



The discovery of a presumptive hearth raised hopes that some 

 utensils of human origin might ultimately be found ; nor was this 

 anticipation disappointed. Towards the end of February 1884, a 

 heavy gale bared the strand very widely, the junction of the forest- 

 clay with the underlying Trias being well displayed at the point 

 marked A in figs. 1 and 2. A large area was here uncovered, and 

 the clay soon yielded several trap pebbles, cracked as if by fire, and 

 fissured in exactly the same way as others which formed a part of 

 the presumed hearth. This suggestive find was carefully followed 

 up and the forest-clay thoroughly searched from A to B, after every 

 tide, so long as the exposure lasted. The following articles were 

 discovered, and are all exhibited on the table : — 



1. An ingot of copper, found lying on the surface of the forest- 

 clay. Although not actually imbedded, its position and appearance 

 left no room to doubt that it had been disinterred by the last tide. 



2. A portion of a similar ingot, also found lying on the surface of 

 the clay, but having a few minute rootlets clinging to one of its 

 crevices. 



3. Numerous pieces of rude pottery, made of dark-coloured, un- 

 burned clay, mixed with small fragments of stone. 



4. Three fragments of granite grinding-stones, originally of 

 circular outline, and about ten inches in diameter. 



5. A curiously shaped piece of whetstone. 



6. A piece of glass. 



7. A large number of angular stones consisting, according to 

 assays made by Messrs. Henry Bath and Sons, the eminent tin- and 

 copper-brokers of Swansea, of tin slags containing a small quantity 

 of that metal. 



8. A quantity of triturated tin-slag, without metallic contents. 



9. A number of angular flints, among which are many having a 

 decidedly artificial character. 



10. Three or four flint implements, in some cases worn by use. 

 All these objects, with the exception of the copper, were actually 



disinterred from the clay, and were found either interpenetrated or 

 embraced, according as they had or had not fissures, by fine root- 

 lets, such as everywhere crowd the clay itself. Everything, except 

 the whetstone and one flint implement, which occurred near Preston 

 Lane, was found closely associated within the space of a few square 

 yards, and at the spot marked H on the plan (fig. 2), or just where 

 the forest-clay makes a junction with the Trias. 



