The fact that many of these blades bore traces of having had a sheath is in favour of their being daggers rather than spear-heads, though it must not be forgotten that Homer[899] describes Achilles as drawing the spear which had belonged to his father from its sheath— Ἐκ δ̓ ἄρα σύριγγος πατρώϊον ἐσπάσατ̓ ἔγχος Though Sir Richard Colt Hoare at first regarded all these blades as spear-heads, he observes, about two-thirds of the way through his first volume,[900] “daily experience convinces me that those implements we supposed to be spear-heads, may more properly be denominated daggers, or knives, worn by the side, or in a girdle, and not affixed to long shafts like the modern lance.” Further on, however, he mentions a “spear-head” from a barrow near Fovant,[901] having the greater part of the wooden handle adhering to it, so that the mode by which it was fastened was clearly seen. From the figure given in the _Archæologia_, and in an unpublished plate of Hoare, this seems, however, to have been a dagger rather than a spear. Other blades of much the same character, found at Everley and Lake, Wilts, and West Cranmore, Somerset, are figured by Dr. Thurnam.[902] This latter was found by my friend the late Mr. J. W. Flower, F.G.S. It is straight at the bottom of the blade, which went only ¼ inch into the handle at the part where the usual semicircular notch was formed. There was a single rivet on either side. The one preserved is ½ inch long. Another, from Lake,[903] is given by Hoare. It was found with burnt bones and was accompanied by a whetstone. Others have been found in a barrow at Ablington,[904] near Amesbury, Wilts, and at Rowcroft,[905] Yattendon, Berks (7½ inches). A fine blade of this character (9¼ inches long), with three rivets, was found near Leeds. The midrib ends in a square base. It is not unlike the blade of a halberd. A hafted blade of the same kind,[906] from Bere Regis, Dorsetshire, has already been mentioned; as well as the decoration of the hilt of one of the same form. One (9 inches) was found in a barrow at Came,[907] and exhibited to the Archæological Institute. Mr. Warne,[908] however, records the finding of two at that place. One seems to have the midrib dotted over with small indentations. That shown in Fig. 303 (which is copied from Dr. Thurnam’s[909] engraving) is from Camerton, Somerset. It is remarkable as having a kind of second midrib beyond the parallel grooves which border the first. As usual it has but two rivets. [Illustration: Fig. 303.—Camerton. ½] [Illustration: Fig. 304.—Cambridge. ½] A bronze dagger (5½ inches) of the Wiltshire type was found in the well-known barrow at Hove,[910] near Brighton, in which the interment had been made in an oak coffin. An amber cup, a perforated stone axe-hammer, and a whetstone had also been deposited with the body.