holmes: pre-historic remains of rombalds moor. 313 
and lime-kilns only. Mr. Fison, in his Illdey address, admitting the 
certain fact of these delves being lime-kilns, asks, why did they burn 
lime in such an out-of-the-way spot in such quantities and in per- 
manent use ? What did they do with the lime so burnt, and where 
did they get the limestone, or fuel ? Relative to the last, we may 
state that experts in geology have demonstrated that upon Rombalds 
Moor there runs a line of glacial drift limestone leavings, reaching 
from Lanshaw, north-west, to Hawksworth, south-east, which drift 
appears to have hit against the elevations in that line, and Lanshaw 
being highest, 1100 feet, would probably first catch the importation 
of Skipton limestone, and so on to the Whinhill, 800 feet, and In- 
take Delves, 700 feet. In that case there might have been a con- 
siderable quantity of lime drift at Lanshaw, to be utilised and burnt. 
The large turf bed at the south side of the delves has been well- 
known to yield large trees of old, and in times more remote would be 
full of fallen timbai-. There would thus be fuel. The particular 
covering of the front of the kilns and their facing south-east would 
catch the wind, which has always been blowing in that direction when 
I have been there, and so would make a natural " blast," enabling 
bog and wood to raise heat es^antial to fuse the limestone. Speaking 
of copper mines and smelting at Wady Maghara, Sinai, Lepsius says, 
(p. 102, Letters): "Hence it appears that this open spot was probably 
selected for melting the ore on account of the keen draught of wind 
which, as we were assured by the Arabs, is here almost incessantly 
blowing." We thus see that at Liiisliav, supposing a drift of lime- 
stone to be there, would have both fuel and a blast to work the 
burning. That they would use the lime thus labDriously made is 
pretty certain. We trace its use both by Romans, Saxon, and Nor- 
mans in building, and as the lime would have to be brought down by 
animals in panniers, so when the drift failed they would be likely to 
take river boulders up and latterly coal, the cinders of which have 
been undoubtedly found in the bog and lime ashes of the Lanshaw 
kilns. Truck-ways, in one case near a dozen parallel, may be yet 
distinctly traced from the Wharfe to the delves, and the Wharfe 
yields limestone boulders yet for burning at pits now stationed near 
to the river. Former!}'- the facilitj' for lime burning would be at the 
