BY RICHD. HELMS. 
405 
The grave was situated in an elevated position on a low rise 
consisting of coarse gritty and clayey soil. The dry situation and 
the natural compactness of the soil no doubt greatly helped to 
preserve the grave, which could be distinguished quite plainly 
although it was over seventeen years since it had been formed. A 
circular mound rose about two and a half feet from a base which 
was upwards of five feet in diameter, irregularly flattened out at 
the edges and strewn with sparsely imbedded rock fragments. In 
the centre of the mound there were three posts. 
In removing the soil and stones I found that the grave must 
have been dug over six feet deep in the solid ground, and seemed 
to have had an oblong shape of about four feet in length by two 
and a half feet wide. At the bottom a dome-like excavation 
about three feet long and nearly two feet high had been made in 
one of the longest sides of the hole, into which the corpse had 
been pushed. The opening had been covered by bark and grass, 
against which flat stone slabs had been placed. The hole was 
filled with granite slabs carefully laid down, with grass in the 
interstices, for some distance, and over this with stones and earth. 
At each end of the grave had been placed a strong sapling that 
rose from the bottom by the side of the cavity in which the body 
rested to about four feet above the surface of the ground, and 
a third one was placed midway between them after a few feet 
had been filled in. These were the posts that rose from the 
mound, and which guided me to the cavity containing the corpse. 
Although the death took place seventeen years before I opened 
the grave, I found no difficulty in determining the method in 
which the body had been prepared for interment. The knees had 
been drawn up to the abdomen and lashed with bast, the elbows 
had been laid close to the sides, and the hands were placed flat in 
front of the face. Although nothing but the bones of the man 
remained, their position left no doubt that the limbs were placed 
as described. It was evident that the body had been lashed 
together into the smallest possible compass by bast being coiled 
round it in all directions. After being tied up it had then been 
wrapped in a blue blanket, perished fragments of which still 
