My Library

the meat, which is laid across the top of the stones. Another form of cooking is done by building the fire round the “oven”. This appears to be the procedure with the larger joints. Meat, however, is also eaten raw. Looking over the country-side at night, the scene is remarkable; the country round for several miles is dotted with encampments similar to the one described; the glow of their fires can be seen showing up the lips of the circles, and the smoke rises high into the sky. The scene is peaceful; primitive but quite happy. No sign can be seen of any permanent defences or preparations for war other than the circular and inturned shape of the settlement. Men are noticed walking about between the villages, their forms outlined against the glow of the fire. Some appear to live in the clearings of the woods, with which the country is thickly covered, the glow of their fires being visible between the stems of the trees. The ground between the huts is trampled flat by the passage of many feet, certain main routes being noticeable. In some cases there are groups of circles quite close together, others are isolated, and between them are large areas of what appear to be cultivated fields. Not much is discernible about their agriculture; there appear to be some root crops; something not unlike a turnip, which looks like horse-radish, and a rough sort of seed of an unfamiliar kind. Here, too, the implements consist of flints of different sizes fixed into handles of varying shapes, according to the use to which they are to be put. All the agriculture appears to be carried out by hand. The only animals to be seen are the wild ones which have been killed by the hunters in the particular village described, which existed so long ago on the exact spot where these investigations were begun. At another tumults, distant about two miles to the S.W., from the one used as a starting-place for experiment, contact was obtained with the same tribe, as well as with a people of another race, superior to them in development. In every way. These latter appear, however, to have been but a decadent branch of their own original stock. They are of commanding stature and bearing; their skins were of a reddish brown colour, and not covered with hair, and they wore long robes. Particular members, who appear to be connected with this place, acted as priests, and at one period held the people in subjection by their priestly arts. They had control of certain elementals and elemental forces, and possessed a considerable knowledge of magic, of a kind which we may perhaps describe as “grey”, and also were skilled in the use of herbs for medicinal and other purposes.