suggested in cases like this, or where an unburnt body is surrounded by a ring of urn burials, the entire skeleton may be those of chiefs or heads of families, and the burnt bones those of slaves, or even wives, sacrificed at the funeral. The practice of suttee (sati) in Europe rests indeed on the authority of Julius Cæsar, who represents such religious suicides as having, at no remote period from his own, formed a part of the funeral rites of the Gaulish chiefs; and also states that the relatives of a deceased chieftain accused his wives of being accessory to his death, and often tortured them to death on that account.”[29] If this is the explanation, the cremating invaders constituted the lower classes in Gaul and Britain, which is doubtful. The practice of burning erring wives, however, apparently prevailed among the Mediterranean peoples. In an Egyptian folk-tale a Pharaoh ordered a faithless wife of a scribe to be burned at the stake.[30] One of the Ossianic folk tales of Scotland relates that Grainne, wife of Finn-mac-Coul, who eloped with Diarmid, was similarly dealt with.[31] The bulk of the archæological evidence seems to point to the invaders, who are usually referred to as “Aryans” having introduced the cremation ceremony into Europe. Whence came they? The problem is greatly complicated by the evidence from Palestine, where cremation was practised by the hewers of the great artificial caves which were constructed about 3000 B.C.[32] As cremation did not begin in Crete, however, until the end of period referred to as “Late Minoan Third” (1450-1200 B.C.)[33] it may be that the Palestinian burials are much later than the construction of the caves. [23] Associated, some authorities urge, with Germans from the mouth of the Elbe. [24] _The Dawn of History_, J. L. Myres, p. 199. [25] British Museum _Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age_, p. 98. [26] British Museum _Guide to the Antiquities of the Early Iron Age_, p. 8. [27] _ibid._ p. 6. [28] _ibid._ p. 8. [29] British Museum _Guide to the Antiquities of the Bronze Age_, pp. 16, 17. [30] _Egyptian Myth and Legend_, p. 143. [31] Campbell's _West Highland Tales_, vol. iii, p. 55. [32] _A History of Civilization in Palestine_, R. A. S. Macalister. [33] _The Discoveries in Crete_, Professor R. M. Burrows, p. 100. Dating according to _Crete the Forerunner of Greece_, C. H. and H. B. Hawes, p. xiv. [Illustration: THE CREMATION GHAT, BENARES 1 Photo. Johnson and Hoffmann]