Note 385 — Chapter I

As the classic authors have left us no description of the modes of interment among the Britons, Richard was induced, by the conformity of their manners and customs to those of the Gauls, to adopt the words used by Cæsar in his account of the Gallic funerals. Unfortunately the remains of the British bards afford little assistance in supplying this deficiency. It appears, however, that the Britons raised tumuli over their dead, and continued the practice till after the introduction of Christianity; and that their other modes of interment were the carned, or heap of stones; the cistvaen, or stone chest; and perhaps the cromlec, or hanging stone. From a curious fragment commemorating the graves of the British warriors, which is printed in the first volume of the Welch Archæology, we learn further, that they buried their dead on the top of hills and lofty cliffs, on declivities, in heaths and secluded valleys, on the banks and near the fords of rivers, and on the sea-shore "where the ninth wave breaks." Allusions are also made to corresponding stones raised on these graves; and it is said, "the long graves in Gwanas, no one knows to whom they belong nor what is their history."

As the modes of interment among all early nations were in many respects similar, there is perhaps no part of our national antiquities which has given scope to so much conjecture as this. The reader who is desirous of more particular information relative to this subject, may at least find amusement in consulting the works of Stukeley, Douglas's Nenia Britannica, the Archæologia, and various accounts scattered in different periodical publications.