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centre, were found three wooden coffins, two of full size, and 
one evidently intended for a child. In one of the former, 
nine feet eight inches long, and two feet two inches broad out- 
side, closed by a lid of corresponding size, the contents were 
peculiar and very interesting. "While, as might naturally 
be expected, we find in most ancient graves only bones and 
teeth, all the soft parts having long ago decayed away, in 
some cases (and this was one of them) almost exactly the 
reverse had happened. Owing to the presence of water, and, 
perhaps, to the fact that it was strongly impregnated with 
iron, the soft parts had been turned into a dark, greasy 
substance (adipocere), and the bones, with the exception of a 
few fragments, were changed into a kind of powder. Singu- 
larly enough, the brain seems to have been the part which 
had undergone the least change. On opening the coffin it 
was found lying at one end, where, no doubt, the head had 
originally been placed, covered by a thick hemispherical 
woollen cap, about six inches in height. The outer side of 
the cap was thickly covered by short loose threads, every one 
of them ending in a small knot. The trunk of the corpse 
had been wrapped in a coarse woollen cloak, which was 
almost semi-circular, and hollowed out round the neck. It 
was three feet eight inches long, and broad in proportion. 
On the right side of the corpse was a box, closed by a lid, 
fastened together by pieces of osier or bark. In this box 
was a similar and smaller one, without a lid, containing a 
cap of simply woven stuff, a small comb, and a small simple 
razor-knife; the coffin also contained two woollen shawls, 
one of them covering the feet, the other lying higher up ; 
they were square in shape, five feet long, three feet nine 
inches broad, with a long fringe. At the place where the 
body had lain was a shirt of woollen material, cut out for 
the neck. It was fastened at the waist by a long woollen 
band, which went twice round the body, and hung down in 
