532 
The great abundance of these forts gives, I think, some 
insight into the state of the country at the time, as regards 
its government. We seem to have, in this, evidence of a 
number of tribes living under distinct heads, though they 
may have been at times, for certain purposes and to some 
limited extent, joined into one general body, either under 
a supreme head or by a confederation of tribes. Had there 
been a single rule, having complete authority throughout the 
whole of Yorkshire, there would not have been the occasion 
for all the forts which we find throughout the county; a 
feature which unmistakably testifies to frequent wars between 
independent bodies. It has been suggested that they are 
defences against a common enemy, such as the Eomans would 
be, but no such design is apparent in their arrangement. 
They would be comparatively useless as parts of one general 
plan of defence, but are well adapted as places of vantage 
against small and neigbouring enemies. They present a 
marked resemblance to the hill forts in Oude, or the pahs in 
New Zealand ; and the state of the country in Britain was, 
no doubt, very similar to what existed, until late years, in 
those two places. 
Wherever the foundations of the huts have been found in 
any number, there is always one which is of a larger size 
than those which surround it ; this has been supposed, with 
much probability, I think, to be the hut of the chief of the 
tribe. 
The transition from the abode of the living to the last 
home of man in the tomb, is not a very sudden one, and 
I now propose very briefly to give you some account of the 
modes of burial, and of the places of sepulture of these 
ancient people. The body was disposed of in two ways, 
evidently, to some extent, of contemporaneous usage, — by 
burning, and by burial of the body unburnt. It is difficult 
to say which is the oldest form, though on the whole I am 
