414 MORTIMER: BRITISH HABITATIONS ON DANBY NORTH MOOR. 
streams. About a hundred yards to the north of the howes are 
the pits which are the subject of this memoir. They have been 
so correctly described by preceding authorities, narrated above 
by Mr. Mortimer, that Uttle information is wanted here. My 
own opinion is all that is asked, but this is no easy matter to 
give. The pits were filled nearly to the top with a black-looking 
sludge, in which grew rushes. There was every indication of 
abundance of water, though the weather for a long time had 
been exceptionally dry. It seemed to me that if the pits had 
been emptied of sludge they would quickly have been filled with 
water. Under such conditions the idea of their having been 
habitable seems absurd. But when they were excavated might 
not the moor have been forest, and the climate different ? 
Possibly, but the more forest the greater rainfall ; so that does 
not help us. 
"What is meant by being 'paved with stone* at the 
bottom ? The geological formation shows a thin bed of 
Kellaways sand-rock resting on Cornbrash. The Cornbrash is 
limestone, and the only limestone available for a long distance. 
Could the limestone have been quarried for smelting purposes ? 
But as the limestone comes nearer the surface, a few yards south 
of the howes, one would think that would have been the more 
suitable place for obtaining it. But the said limestone is also 
ferruginous, and has been worked in various places, thougli with 
little success, for iron. True, but the same remark applies as 
Ijefore : Why not have sought the ore where it comes to the 
surface ! Still, it is an important fact to bear in mind, in 
considering the origin of the pits, that both iron and lime could 
be obtained there, and to my mind the probability that this is 
the true explanation is very great. It follows that the pits 
need not be very ancient. If something more fanciful is sought 
for, at all events let the habitation theory be discarded, and 
then consider the following brilliant suggestion now invented for 
the first time : 
* See page 4()S. 
