540 
fact that they have been there more carefully searched for 
than elsewhere. Their import is shrouded in mystery, nor 
can anything be certainly said in explanation of them, except 
that they are religious symbols; this their connection with 
burial, always a sacred rite, I think goes far to prove. As 
to the religion of the Britons, or their places of worship, we 
have very little evidence from existing remains. The custom 
of placing with the body in the grave some of the weapons 
or implements of the deceased, seems to point to a belief in a 
future state of existence, though it does not prove it, for 
feelings of affectionate remembrance might prompt the wish 
to inter with the dead some object which was intimately 
associated with him whilst living. I should, however, be 
inclined to attribute this practice to the belief that the 
deposited articles might be of use in another life; though 
why, in this case, only some persons were buried with imple- 
ments or ornaments, and in all cases why only a very few of 
such objects have been placed in the grave, is difficult to 
account for. Could we feel certain that the urns which 
accompany the body contained food for the use of the 
deceased, we might argue, from this fact, strongly in favour 
of their belief in an after life ; but that such was the purpose 
of these sepulchral vessels is only a matter of probability, 
though undoubtedly the probability is a strong one. As I 
observed before, we do not find in Yorkshire any of those 
large circles of stone, like Stonehenge and Avebury, which 
have generally been considered as places of religious and 
political assembly ; nor have we the large series of standing 
stones, such as are found in many parts of the kingdom. It 
is the opinion of some archaeologists that all these circles are 
merely places of burial, and that the number of barrows 
which are found around them is a proof of this. I confess I 
have become more inclined of late to this belief, for undoubt- 
edly the smaller circles of stone or earth are merely the sacred 
