among some of the more cultured races of the Mediterranean, and that spread thence over Europe "like an epidemic." As to the conditions of life of the men of the Bronze epoch, it should be noted that the use of the sword would have an effect, as Colonel Morgan has pointed out, on the form and character of their defences. I am informed, on the authority of Mr. J. Romilly Allen, that the number of undoubted Bronze Age fortifications in Britain is very small. It is highly important that all the ancient forts of Carnarvonshire should be thoroughly excavated in the light of modern antiquarian knowledge, in order to obtain the fullest information as to their date from the character of the objects found in them. Some of the objects found in Trerceiri appear to indicate that it belongs to the LateCeltic period. There are many problems still awaiting solution; but of this we can be certain with regard to the conditions under which man lived in Carnarvonshire in the Bronze Age, that the use of metal implements would be a great impetus to the tillage of the soil, and would tend to establish firmly the main lines of what came to be known as the "gwely" system of old Welsh land tenure.

When we come to regard man of the Bronze Age in the circumstances of his death and burial, we have trustworthy data to guide us in the county of Carnarvon and elsewhere. Though inhumation was practised, the characteristic interment of the Bronze Age, as already pointed out, was cremation: the ashes of the burnt bones being placed in a cinerary urn. This urn was enclosed in a cist or rectangular chest, made of flat slabs of stone. Sometimes the urn was set in an inverted position, but at other times it was upright, and its mouth was covered by means of a slab. Occasionally, the body was buried in a cist, without being burnt: and, in that case, it was generally doubled up, as in Neolithic times. Only one or two bodies, that were buried together, were placed in the same cist, and there was no entrance for the purpose of fresh burials, as

there was in the Neolithic times.

case of the cromlechs and cists of Mr. Allen points out that in the Bronze Age the bottom of the cist was longer in proportion to its breadth than in the case of the stonelined graves of the Iron Age.

As in the case of Neolithic interments, the cinerary urn (whether in a cist or not) was generally covered by a mound of earth or stones. This mound was utilised

for fresh burials: the first burial (usually known as the "primary" burial) was made either below or on the surface of the ground, thus allowing room for other (or secondary burials) within the mound. Each of these new burials, however, had its own urn or cist. It is interesting to note, as Mr. Allen points out, that instances occur of the use of a natural hill or mound, instead of the artificial one. In addition to the cinerary urn, the mounds contain other vessels, such as drinkingcups, food-vessels, and so-called incense-cups. The vessels are often decorated with the chevron patternthe characteristic ornamentation of this epoch. It appears that incense-cups are found in the cinerary urns in conjunction only with cremated remains, while drinking-cups and food-vessels are found in association with unburnt bodies: hence a natural inference that remains, where the former articles occur, are of a later type than those characterised by the latter only. The form of ornaments, which consists of alternate horizontal bands of plain work and pattern, is also found, and is a survival from the Neolithic period. The bronze weapons found in the tombs consist, as a rule, of daggers with a triangular blade, fixed by three rivets to a handle of wood. The latter is sometimes ornamented with gold-a metal in ancient times largely obtained in Ireland. Bronze razors are also found, ornamented with finely-engraved lines, arranged in a diagonal pattern of chequer-work. The use of flint knives survived into the Bronze period. These knives are usually leaf-shaped in form, and highly finished in workmanship. In addition to the foregoing objects,

Mr. Allen, in the important article already mentioned, states that stone implements also survived in the form of perforated axe-hammers, characterised by a beautiful polish. In this epoch, too, personal ornaments were buried with the dead, and took the form of necklaces of beads and jet, sometimes ornamented with lozengeshaped patterns, consisting of rows of small dots. Necklaces of amber beads also occur-showing a trade connection with the Baltic region-as well as armlets. of gold and bronze, and bronze pins. The purest skulls of the Bronze epoch are brachycephalic; but mesocephalic skulls are also found, showing fusion with the older long-headed Neolithic inhabitants.

With regard to Carnarvonshire man in the Iron Age, though he has left traces of his presence in some of the old fortifications of the district, there has been discovered no Late-Celtic burial place. The nearest of these burial places to Carnarvonshire, so far discovered, is the cairn at Mold. As iron rusts away very rapidly in the soil, discoveries of ancient iron weapons are much rarer than they would otherwise have been. A sharp look-out should be kept in all excavations for any traces that may have survived.

The following is a list of the chief Bronze-Age remains found in Carnarvonshire, a record of which has appeared in the Archæologia Cambrensis :

1. 1851, p. 155. A short sword-blade of the Early Bronze period, and a short dagger of the same period, found at Dolwyddelan, and presented to the Bristol Museum by Lord Willoughby d'Eresby.

2. 1856, p. 123. A Palstave found at Deganwy.

3. 1856, p. 127. Two moulds for bronze weapons and a Palstave found at Danesfield, near Bangor, a quarter of a-mile from the Anglesey ferry, and two miles from the Aber passage.

4. 1864, p. 315. It is here stated that in 1824 a Bronze-Age burial place was found when a road was being made to Penybryn. A bronze Celt, much corroded, was also found close to Wig Farm.

5. 1868 records the discovery of an urn in 1858, at Waterloo port, near Carnarvon, containing calcined bones and ashes.

6. 1868, p. 256. An "incense-cup" was found at Bryn Seiont, near Carnarvon, in a large cinerary urn, with a cruciform incised ornament on the bottom of the cup. This cup, in 1868, was in the possession of the Rev. W. Wynn Williams, of Menaifron, Anglesey.

7. 1868. An "incense-cup" was also found at Bryn Crug, Llanfairisgaer, and also a bronze pin, about 1 ins. in length. This" incense-cup" is said to resemble a variety not uncommonly found in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Scotland.

8. 1868, p. 397. A small pointed piece of bronze was found in some old workings at Llandudno.

9. 1871, p. 20. An ornamented celt was found at Mynachdy Gwyn, south-west of Pantglas Station.

10. 1890, p. 156. A gold fibula was discovered near Carnarvon; a description of it was written by the Rev. Hugh Prichard. It was placed in Carnarvon Museum.

It is clear from the Mabinogi of Math ab Mathonwy, from some of the Triads, and from the Book of Taliessin, that the districts of Arllechwedd, Arvon, and Eifionydd supplied an abundant crop of legend in medieval times. Some of the names contained in these legends also appear in the topography of the district, as, for instance, Llew or Lleu (= Irish Lug, Gaulish Lugus, whence Lugudunum), in Nantlle(u) and Dinlle(u), Gwydion, whose name survives in Bryn y Gwydion, near Clynnog, and in Moel Gwydion, near Trawsfynydd, and Aranrot, whose fortress (Caer Aranrot) is popularly thought to be at the bottom of the sea, near the mouth of the Llifon. In its present form, the story of Math ab Mathonwy, like the other parts of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, consists of older materials re-cast and re-written. It is not improbable that some of the names are those of ancient Celtic deities, while others are derived from genealogies of the pre-Cunedda dynasties of the district, and that the stories vaguely reflect some of the earlier customs of the local tribes. Through present-day and medieval- folk-lore the

student of the past of Wales may dimly descry, as through a mist, some of the features of our early ethnology and social arrangements; but, even to the most experienced investigators this task must be a very uncertain and difficult one. The reader who wishes to study the most thorough and elaborate investigations of these legends from a comparative standpoint, will find them fully treated in Rhys' Celtic Heathendom; Rhys and Brynmôr Jones' Welsh People, and Rhys' Welsh Folk-Lore. There is also much valuable matter for the student of Carnarvonshire folk-lore, and its possible bearing on the characteristics of the early settlers of the county, in the Rev. D. E. Jenkins' Bedd Gelert, its Facts, Fairies, and Folk-lore (Ll. Jenkins, Portmadoc, 1899), based on the writings of the late William Jones, Bleddyn), and containing an introduction by Principal Rhys. The latter has also touched upon the relations between Lleyn and Leinster in his Presidential Address to the Cambrian Archæological Society, printed in Archæologia Cambrensis, 1892, p. 56. There are also some interesting studies in the ethnology of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire in Keltic Researches, by Mr. E. W. B. Nicholson, Bodley's Librarian in the University of Oxford. We shall be in a better position to determine the relations between the various strata of population, pre-Celtic, Goidelic, and Brythonic, here as elsewhere, when the ancient fortifications and hut-dwellings have been thoroughly investigated. These investigations, together with a thorough study of the methods of land tenure, as shown in the Record of Carnarvon, and of the dialects of Anglesey and Carnarvon, ought in conjunction to make the early history of these districts fairly clear. In conclusion, I append the following list of subjects connected with the prehistoric antiquities of Carnarvonshire, discussed in the Archæologia Cambrensis, in the hope that it may be of service to future investigators :

1. 1846, p. 70. An Account of the Early Remains of the Conway District, by H. Longueville Jones.