MORTIMER: BRITISH HABITATIONS OX DAXBY NORTH MOOR. 417 
very strongly supported,"^ and — as we must believe — from what he 
considered reliable evidence. However, it will have been observed 
that later he firmly opposed this view. His chief objection seems 
to have been that these pits are mostly in a swampy condition. 
Why did he not observe this during his early studies of these 
pits and at the time he so ably pleaded their habitation purpose ? 
Might it be because the pits were then less charged with 
FIG. 2. THE BRITISH SETTLEMENT ON DANBY NORTH MOOR FROM 
THE 6-INCH ORDNANCE MAP. 
slushy peat than now ? This is very probable : and it is quite 
possible that, through some different surface conditions existing 
when the pits were dug, the peat had not even commenced to 
form, there being then nothing (as hinted at by Mr. Cole) to prevent 
the natural drainage of the sloping surface, which consequently 
might firm and dry. In this case we must assume the growth 
See his anonymous jmper in the (jeiitleman's Magazine for 1861. 
