That some important object was gained by the formation of so long a cutting is undoubted, but what that object was is a perplexing question. It can scarcely be supposed that the garrison at ÆSICA were dependent for their daily supply of so important an article as water upon an open cutting outside the Barrier. The feeblest of their foes could, in an instant, cut off the provision. No doubt the country, for some distance north of the Wall, was held in subjection by the Roman forces, but when the Wall was built, and the station planned, such was not the case. The station itself is not destitute of water. A well, sunk some years ago, to the depth of twenty-four feet, yields to the tenants of the farm-house an unfailing supply. I am disposed to think that the water brought by the cutting was to give to the north rampart of the station the advantage of a wet ditch. By throwing an embankment across the depression on the north of the station, as it begins to slope down to the bed of the Haltwhistle-burn, a considerable body of water would lodge here. The station of ÆSICA was an important one. In a particularly wild district, at an unusual distance from the great lines of Roman communication, and close beside the great opening in the mural ridge, by which the waters of the Forest of Lowes effect a passage to the low grounds, it would be peculiarly exposed to the attacks of the enemy. Although somewhat elevated above the ground north of the Wall, it is not so much so as to be impregnable on that quarter. A body of water collected here to keep the enemy at a still greater distance might not be beneath the attention of the garrison. Any temporary interference with the aqueduct would in this case be productive of no inconvenience. The existence of a water-course on the enemy’s side of the Wall at HUNNUM, which may have served a similar purpose, has already been noticed. At BREMENIUM, High Rochester, some guttered stones, covered with flags, were recently found lying in a direction which led to the supposition, that they brought water from some springs outside the station to the eastern moat.