India have been thus made. Sir Thomas Brassey, in his book Work and Wages, refers to "the Italian villagers, men, women, and children, carrying earth in baskets on their heads," to construct railways.

My excavations were commenced in the month of September, after a long continuance of dry weather, so that the adjacent little stream, the Kennet, had been dried up for more than two months; yet water continually stood to the depth of 8 feet in the deep holes (21 feet), sunk at the foot of the mound; and I think it would never at any time of the year fall much below that level.

From these results it will be seen that when Silbury Hill was first formed, it was nearly surrounded by a deep and wide trench or moat, which at all times contained a considerable depth of water; and the large excavated area to the west of the hill, although not so deep as the trench, must necessarily have been a pond of water during a great part of every year. This fact has hitherto escaped observation, but it was from a surmise that this would prove to be the case, that I was first led to attempt these explorations.

For what purpose was this moat intended? There is one reason probable, and that is for the purpose of defence. By surrounding the hill with water it could be approached only by the narrow causeway situate on the south side, and this could have been stockaded as a further defence.

My conclusions are, that the builders of this mound selected its peculiar low situation for the sole purpose of obtaining the line of defence furnished by the water in the surrounding moat, and that Silbury Hill was erected as a tribal stronghold or place of retreat and defence in case of a sudden attack by enemies.

The mound at Marlborough strongly resembles Silbury Hill, and was erected in a similar low situation near the same stream, the Kennet, possibly for the same purpose and by the same race of men.

In the course of these explorations an interesting discovery was made which throws light on the date of the erection of the mound. In shaft No. 5,1 after passing through 9 feet of white alluvial clay, the men came to a distinct blackish layer about a foot in thickness, consisting of the usual tenacious clay, with a large admixture of charcoal, fractured flints, bones, and small burnt Sarsen stones, all evident indications of human occupation. I

'See Plan.