GIBB — A TISTT TO EECULTEE. 
333 
soutbern tower. Xumerous holes were seen inside the walls, in which 
birds had built their nests ; some of them contained young, of the 
starling especially. T picked up in this tower a few human bones 
from the churchyard, collected by the people who had charge of the 
place, and brought away with me an axis, a clavicle, and a temporal 
bone, in the usual condition of graveyard specimens. 
I now descended to the ground and visited the Eoman encamp- 
ment, at least the remains of it, walking round as much of the old 
wall as is visible at its eastern and southern faces. It was still very 
perfect, although in some places undermined, and portions had fallen 
outwards in some places. Many fragments of genuine Eoman brick 
were observed, which had been built in by the Eomans. Occasionally 
Eoman coins are found about here, generally much defaced and in 
bad condition. Gold rings and other articles are now and then 
picked up at the base of the exposed wall of the old graveyard, and 
not unfrequently the end of a coffin becomes exposed, and its contents 
are soon rifled with the object of finding jewellery. 
As an object of antiquity, the remains of the old church are well 
worthy of preservation. I lingered about Eeculver for some hours, 
and retraced my steps to Heme Bay. From Eeculver, and indeed all 
along the coast to Herne Bay, the high land of the east end of 
Sheppey is a prominent object in the distance. Shoeburyness, on the 
opposite side of the Thames, can also be seen. South of this place is 
Herne, which gives its name to what once was a bay. Herne Bay 
has nothing to boast of but the sea and its long pier, the termination 
of which shows where the line of coast at one time extended, as we 
may infer from the Admiralty charts of the present day, which I 
think very accurately indicate the former position and boundaries of 
the land by the presence of the shoals of clay and sand. The point 
of attraction about here is certainly Ee- 
culver, but the inhabitants do not appear 
to know it. 
About halfway to Eeculver, I picked up 
on the top of the cliff an undoubted flint- / 
implement in a broken condition, but still /..^ 
sufficiently distinct to point out its real • ' \ 
nature. It strongly resembles many of \ 
those I have seen, both in colour and shape. \ 
The latter is shown in the annexed woodcut. 
It is not the first time that flint-implements 
have been found at Eeculver, as in the 
* Geologist ' for July they are referred to, in 
a review of Mr. Evans's paper on ' Fur- 
ther Discoveries of Flint Implements in the 
Drift.' 
The train which brought me down to Fig. 2.— Small flint implement. 
Herne Bay left for London at half-past 
seven, having allowed me eight hours to wander about a part of the 
coast, which will amply repay a visit. 
