or embryo galleries until the labour of moving the chalk to the shaft became excessive, and then he was forced to sink another pit; a rough measurement would show him how far he could extend his workings underground, and another rough measurement on the surface would determine the position of the next shaft. From the first pit he would learn the position of the chalk and its quality, and he would keep as close as possible to what he had already proved. (3) The absence of intercommunication.-These deneholes are certainly of considerable antiquity, and date from a time when an accurate underground survey was not possible; therefore the worker of one mine could never tell exactly at what point he would hole through into the next. If he did so in a line with one of the branches or chambers, that would be safe enough; but if in driving forward his chamber, he worked into one of the half-pillars or buttresses separating the chambers of the adjoining pit, a fall of the roof would almost certainly occur; at any rate, it would be a danger known and apprehended; and it is reasonable to suppose that as the sound showed that he was close to the next pit, he ceased working or turned his chamber in another direction. But, after all, there is no particular reason why there should be such communication. If the adjacent mine was abandoned, and possibly partially filled with sand, it was to the interest of the miner to keep a barrier between the disused workings and his own though the plans of the Hangman's Wood dene-holes show that he has not always succeeded in doing so. (4) The position of the dene-holes.-Much has been written of the "lunacy" of people sinking shafts to win chalk, when chalk could be obtained on the surface in the near neighbourhood. Setting aside the point that in mining, as in other matters, some people do foolish things even at the present day, this objection is based upon the assumption (1) that the land where the chalk is the surface rock was unoccupied, and (2) that the working and transportation of chalk to the point where it was required was more easily effected by open quarries than by pits. As to the first point, it is very suggestive that we find such a collection of pits in Hangman's Wood-a place which must always have been waste land-while the tract where chalk is the surface rock was probably cultivated from an early date. Now, in certain parts of county Durham there formerly existed a right for the commoner to mine coal under the waste of the manor, and in many places a similar right to work stone existed. It is not impossible that some right or custom of a similar nature may have determined the locality of the Hangman's Wood pits. As to the second point, much depends on the thickness of the surface soil, and there appears to have been a prejudice against the top chalk in Wiltshire, in quite recent times, chalk was won by mining, even where it was the surface rock. Quarrying involves the removal of the surface-soil and the restoration of the land when the work is finished; and it is by no means clear that quarrying would be an easier or less expensive method of obtaining chalk than mining; the former would throw valuable land out of cultivation for a considerable time, and might damage it permanently; while the latter, if the pits were sunk on the waste, could only cause damage by the deposit of the material dug from the shaft, and such damage would only affect land which was practically valueless. Again, if chalk were dug for chalking the clay-lands of Essex, it would pay to bring it to the surface as near those lands as possible, and save the extra transport from the more distant places where chalk is the surface rock. In early times the question of transport may well have presented greater difficulties than the question of mining; in other words, to sink even an 80-ft. shaft may have been a less laborious business than the cartage of every load of chalk over an extra mile. (5) The difficulty of raising chalk by such narrow shafts. This objection takes no account of the mechanical means available in early times. Without some modern form of geared winch, it would only be possible to raise a small quantity of chalk at a time from one of these pits, since the weight of 80 ft. of rope has to be added to the load. Now, chalk is a heavy substance, about twice the weight of coal, bulk for bulk-and the quantity which could be raised at one lift with primitive appliances would occupy a small compass and could be raised by a small shaft. The smaller the shaft, the less danger of the sides of that shaft falling in, and the less labour needed to sink it. If the amount of chalk raiseable at one lift could be contained in something scarcely larger than a bucket, there was no need to sink a shaft wide enough to contain a much larger receptacle. An On the whole, the refuge and the granary theories seem less satisfactory than the chalk-mine explanation. excavation in a damp substance like chalk would not be so suitable a storage-place for grain as to induce people to dig 80 ft. to reach it; and the difficulty of getting women and children into and out of places of this kind forms a grave objection. The danger of detection, too, would be extreme; for though the mouths of the shafts might be concealed by a wood, that wood is the first place an invader would search, if he found the neighbourhood recently deserted by its inhabitants. On the other hand, we have evidence that the Britons dug chalk to put on their lands, and that chalk was exported to the Continent in Roman times. Altogether, the amount of chalk which must have been used for one purpose or another in the course of many centuries is probably quite sufficient to account for all the chalk excavations of Essex and Kent. For export or ballast, the chalk nearest the river would be worked first; but as the growth of London and the increase of the coal trade enlarged the demand, other sources of supply would be tapped; and it is not necessary to suppose that the former would be worked out before the latter were touched. In conclusion, while we regret that we are obliged to differ from Mr. Nichols, whose energy and enthusiasm have done such good service to the Association, we wish to express the opinion that the Chislehurst Caves are archæologically of the highest interest. country where mining forms, and has for centuries In a formed, so important a feature of industrial life, the origin and growth of mining must be of interest to archæologists, and at present the archæology of mining is almost unknown ground. We take a minute concern in the domestic life of the past, but so far we have done little towards investigating one of its earliest and most important industries; and, as throwing light upon the history and development of mining, the Chislehurst Caves are of first-rate importance. PORTUGUESE PARALLELS TO THE CLYDESIDE DISCOVERIES. BY REV. H. J. DUKINFIELD ASTLEY, M.A., F.R. HIST. S., F.R.S.L. N the Proceedings of the Society of Anti- pottery, were found in the same broch. On one side of the disk is an inscription, within boundary lines, of which the following is a copy : These characters all occur on undisputed Iberian inscriptions, within boundary lines, and may be seen figured in Cartailhac's Les Ages Préhistoriques de l'Espagne et du Portugal. They bear a certain superficial resemblance to runes, and have recently been submitted to Professor Wimmer, the celebrated Runic scholar; but, as might have been expected, and as happened in the case of the Dighton inscription mentioned below, he has not been able to make anything of them. On the other side of the disk are the following signs: |