MEETINGS. 333 



they relate. There appears to be a great dearth of folk-stories 

 in the island. If any genuine old versions of tales of this kind 

 do really exist they ought to be carefully preserved. I should 

 like to urge very strongly upon members of the Society, and 

 others who take an interest in folklore researches, the great 

 desirability of preserving as far as they can every scrap of 

 legend and tradition which may come under their notice. 

 This kind of local lore is rapidly vanishing, as the older gene- 

 ration of Guernseymen and Guernseywomen gradually pass 

 away ; much of it has already gone beyond recall ; hence it is 

 increasingly needful that the remainder should be preserved. 

 I shall always be glad to receive authentic items — however 

 slight and apparently trivial. They may form missing links 

 in the lengthy chain of traditional continuity, and will all help 

 towards the formation of that symmetrical whole, which we 

 Guernsey f olklorists are so earnestly endeavouring to construct 

 out of the ancient legends of the Channel group. 



J. Linwood Pitts, Sec. Folklore Sect. 



REPORT OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SECTION. 



It was getting late in the season when I first met the 

 Society of Natural Science in their excursion trips, so that I 

 can only describe what came under our notice for the three or 

 four days I was with the members. Everyone knows that 

 high stone situated in a field just off the road from 1'Eree to 

 St. Peter's, on the west side. It is called on the maps 

 " Longue Rocque," close to the farm called " Les Paysans," 

 now occupied by Mr. Le Mesurier. He kindly allowed me to 

 excavate underneath this stone. The old legend accounts for 

 its being there that a fairy had in the quiet of the night 

 brought it in her silk apron, and placed it in its present up- 

 right position ; further, the general belief in Guernsey was 

 that the stone was as deep in the ground as what it shows 

 above. I was determined to find this out, so, accompanied by 

 Mr. Nesfield, we commenced on the north-east side ; digging- 

 down 2 feet 6 inches through yellowish soil we came to gravel. 

 In this gravel we found a long oval round water-worn stone 

 weighing about 2-^lb., and about 18 inches from the surface 

 came on a stone which appeared to us like a support to the 

 large stone. At 3 feet 2 inches below the surface, we came to 

 the bottom of the stone, bedded in yellow clay. Thus the 

 total length of the stone is 11 feet 6 inches out of the ground 

 and 3 feet 2 inches below the surface — 14 feet 2 inches in all. 

 The average circumference is about 11 feet ; so the weight of 



