136 JOURNAL OP THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
of some bark, the pressure of which, when twisted round the soft 
and impressionable clay, left a pattern. 
The presence of an earthen vase in the same grave with unburned 
human remains is, I believe, an unusual occurrence, and it is diffi- 
cult to determine its object. In the kists wherein the bones have 
been found burned, the vase is generally present for the purpose of 
holding the fragmentary remains ; but the vase in this grave can 
soarcely be a cinerary urn, seeing that the body is present in an 
unburned condition. 
A few similar instances have been observed in Derbyshire, and 
these have been suggested to be vessels in which food was deposited 
for the benefit of the departed ; but whether in case of revival, or 
for the purpose of strengthening him on his journey to the un- 
known, it is impossible to ascertain without fuller evidence. 
The individual could not have been of more than ordinary stature, 
judging from the size of the kist, which was two feet six inches 
long by two feet wide, and two feet six inches deep. The stone 
upon the western side was about six inches longer than that on 
the eastern, and was about two feet six inches beneath the grassy 
surface — over which, I am inclined to believe, there was once a 
mound, though the proprietor of the estate, as well as the farmer 
who has long cultivated it, assure me that there is no record or 
memory of such. The hill on which it stands overlooks the waters 
of Polbathic inlet and St. Germans creek ; and the stone with 
which the kist was built is of a slate that is not represented nearer 
than the shores of Whitsand Bay. 
The contents that were procured — such as they are — will be 
preserved in the Museum of this Institution. The kist is still 
open, with the cover-stone lying at its head ; and I believe it is 
the intention of Miss Roberts, the proprietor, to preserve intact 
this interesting specimen, illustrative of the manner of the inter- 
ments of the pre-Eoman native Briton. 
