The examples I here introduce (figs. 114 to 125) will give a good general idea of these curious little vessels, which I believe have not been “incense cups,” but small urns to receive the ashes of an infant, perhaps sacrificed at the death of its mother, so as to admit of being placed within the larger urn containing the remains of its parent. The contents of barrows give, as I have before stated, incontestable evidence of the practice of sacrificing not only horses, dogs, and oxen, but of human beings, at the graves of the Ancient Britons. Slaves were sacrificed at their masters’ graves; and wives, there can be no doubt, were sacrificed and buried with their husbands, to accompany them in the invisible world upon which they were entering. It is reasonable, therefore, to infer that infants were occasionally sacrificed on the death of their mothers, in the belief that they would thus partake of her care in the strange land to which, by death, she was removed. Whether from sacrifice, or whether from natural causes, the mother and her infant may have died together, it is only reasonable to infer from the situation in which these “incense cups” are found (either placed on the top of a heap of burnt bones, or inside the sepulchral urn containing them), and from their usually containing small calcined bones, that they were receptacles for the ashes of the infant, to be buried along with those of its mother. [Illustration: Fig. 114.] [Illustration: Fig. 115.] [Illustration: Fig. 116.] [Illustration: Fig. 117.] [Illustration: Fig. 118.] [Illustration: Fig. 119.] [Illustration: Fig. 120.] [Illustration: Fig. 121.] [Illustration: Fig. 122.] [Illustration: Fig. 123.] [Illustration: Fig. 124.] [Illustration: Fig. 125.] The form will be seen to vary from the simplest salt-cellar-like cup to the more elaborately rimmed and ornamented vase. Some are pierced with holes, as if for suspension, and one or two examples have handles at the side. The best examples of this kind are those shown on figs. 120, 124, and 125. Among the most curious vessels of this period may possibly be reckoned the singular one here engraved (fig. 126), of which form only two examples have been discovered. They are much in shape like the drinking cups before engraved, but have the addition of a handle at the side, which gives them the character of mugs. One of these is in the Ely museum, and the other in the Bateman museum. [Illustration: Fig. 126.] CHAPTER VI. Ancient British or Celtic Period--Implements of Stone--Celts--Stone Hammers--Stone Hatchets, Mauls, etc.--Triturating Stones--Flint Implements--Classification of Flints--Jet Articles--Necklaces, Studs, etc.--Bone Instruments--Bronze Celts, Daggers, etc.--Gold Articles.