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circle of the barrow was considerably extended, as will be seen by the engraving.

Another excellent example of the inverted position of the sepulchral urns is here given, from one of the cists in RollyLow, near Wardlow. I have chosen it because when found by Mr. Bateman, it had received a considerable fracture on one side, and thus showed the burnt bones which it contained, through the aperture.* The urn was about sixteen inches in height, and twelve inches

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in diameter, and was ornamented in the usual manner with indentations produced by a twisted thong. It was inverted over a deposit of calcined human bones, among which was a large red deer's horn, also calcined. The urn was so fragile, as to be broken to pieces on removal.

Itisnot unusual in the Derbyshire barrows for

the interments to be made

in stone cists, and these of course, vary both in size and in form, according to the nature of the spot chosen, and to the requirements of each particular case. The cists are usually formed of rough slabs of limestone or grit-stone, set up edgeways on the surface of the ground, so as to form a sort of irregular-square, rhomboidal, or other shaped compartment. In this the interment, whether of the body itself or of the urn containing the calcined bones, has been made, and then the cist has been covered with one or more flat stones, over which the cairn of stones has been raised. Some barrows contain several such cists, in each of which a single, or in some instances a double, interment has been made. An excellent example of this is afforded by the accompanying engraving, which shows the ground plan of a barrow opened by myself, and my friend Mr. Lucas,† on Hitter Hill. The shaded portions of the plan,

* Although I am describing the position in which the urns have been placed, it must not for a moment be supposed that they are often found in a perfect state, or in the position in which they have originally been placed. On the contrary, the urns are usually very much crushed, and not unfrequently from pressure of the superincumbent mass of stones and earth, are found on their sides, and crushed

flat.

† For an illustrated account of this barrow see "The Reliquary, Quarterly Archæological Journal and Review," vol iii. p. 159, et. seq., from which these engravings are borrowed; and "Crania Britannica."

show the extent of the openings we made in the barrow, and A, B, C, and D, show the stone cists containing interments of which

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I have been speaking. Two of these cists (B and C) are also shown on the annexed vignette. With the skeleton in cist

B, here shown, a beautiful and highly ornamental "food vessel" was found, to which I shall have occasion later on to refer. Occasionally, when the natural surface of the ground was not sufficiently even or solid for the interment to be as conveniently made as might be

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wished, a flooring of rough slabs of stone was laid for the body to rest upon.

Chambered tumuli of somewhat similar construction to the one at New Grange, in Ireland, exist in Derbyshire, and are of the most interesting character. The principal of these megalithic structures remaining, are the one at Minning-Low, and the one known as the "Five Wells," near Taddington.

The first of these contains in the centre, and in four places within the area of the circle, large cists, or, as they now appear from the soil being removed from them, large cromlechs exactly of the same construction as that well-known Druidical structure, "Kits-Coty-House," and numberless others.* They are formed of large limestones (the general formation of the district), and have all had covers, or cap-stones of the same, but only two with these cap-stones perfect now remain. The accompanying plan of some of these cists gives the situation of

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the stones forming the sides of the large chamber; of the pasage leading to it; of the slabs which closed its entrance; and of the covers or cap-stones. The chamber is rather more than five feet in height, and the largest cap-stone about seven feet square and of great thickness. A kind of wall similar to those which have been found to encircle some of the Etruscan tumuli, forms the circle of this mound, which rises to a height of more than fifteen feet from the surface of the ground. The "Five Wells" tumulus contains one of the most perfect examples now remaining of this kind of arrangement. "It consists of two

vaults or chambers, situated in the centre of a cairn, about thirty yards in diameter, each approached by a separate gallery or avenue, formed by large limestones standing edgeways, extending through the tumulus, respectively in a south-east and north-west direction." Another five-chambered tumulus is Ringham-Low, which has, as yet, been only partially examined.

In some instances, the barrows are formed almost wholly of earth, and where they contain examples of urn burial, or of cremation without urns, the indications are frequently very striking. It not unfrequently happens that the spot where the

As a rule the structures known as cromlechs, Druidical altars, etc., are these large sepulchral cists from which the earth forming the mound has at some time been removed.

funeral pyre has been lit can very clearly be perceived, and, as I have said before, in these instances the ground beneath is generally burned to some considerable depth. Where it was intended that the remains should be collected together, and placed in an urn for interment, I apprehend, from careful examination, that the urn being formed of clay-most probably, judging from the delicacy of touch, and from the impress of fingers which occasionally remains, by the females of the tribes and ornamented according to the taste of the manipulator, was placed in the funeral fire and there baked, while the body of the deceased was being consumed. The remains of the calcined bones, the flints, etc., were then "scraped" up together and placed in the urn; over which the mound was next raised. When it was not intended to use an urn, then the remains were collected together, piled up in a small heap, and covered to some little thickness with earth (and occasionally small stones). Another fire was then lit on the top of this small mound, which had the effect of baking the earth, and enclosing the remains of calcined bones, etc., in a kind of crust resembling in colour and hardness, a partly-baked brick.

Having now spoken of the principles of construction of the Celtic grave-mounds of Derbyshire, and described the various modes of interment which they exhibit, I shall in my next paper proceed to describe the pottery and the objects of flint, bone, and stone, which they contain.

(To be continued.)

THE NOVEMBER SHOOTING STARS.

BY RICHARD A. PROCTOR, B.A., F.R.A.S.

(With a Plate.)

Ir is probable that there will be this year an exhibition of the November shooting stars, though it is uncertain whether the phenomenon will be so well seen in Europe as it was last year. As a display the shower is not likely to be so splendid as it was in 1866, since on November 14th of the present year, the moon will be nearly full. However, there can be no doubt that the November meteors will be looked for again with great interest, since the discoveries which have been made respecting the orbit in which they move, have presented them to us in a new aspect.

When the shower of November last was under discussion, it was very noteworthy how indistinct were the views of many persons-I may even say of many astronomers-respecting the relations of the earth's globe, as it travelled onwards rotating in its orbit, to the meteor stream which it encountered. I do not here refer to the doubt and obscurity under which the question of the path actually pursued by the meteors rested at that time. The investigation of this question was one of extreme difficulty, one which taxed-and not lightly-the powers of the highest modes of mathematical analysis. But many

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appeared to find considerable difficulty, or failed altogether in forming an estimate of the circumstances under which the meteors became visible to us. The existence of a "radiant point" from which all the shooting stars appeared to travel, in whatever part of the sky they made their appearance, was a phenomenon which although in reality it inferred the solution of the problem of the meteors' origin-yet presented difficulties to many observers. The questions that were asked and the suggestions that were offered on this and kindred points, were many and amusing. One observer, noticing the comparative absence of meteors from the immediate neighbourhood of the "radiant point," suggested in explanation of the peculiarity, that the earth was passing through a sort of tunnel traversing a bed of meteors; thus in the path along which the earth travelled, there were no meteors or few-previous passages along the same track having cleared the waybut many meteors grazed the earth's atmosphere, the bore of the tunnel only allowing the solid globe of the earth to pass freely. And, indeed, the supposition that shooting stars are only seen when grazing our atmosphere has been commonly entertained and expressed even by astronomers of eminence. Sir

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