San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-02-20
Chr gutlY 5t9l,t.
wEDNESDAY,FE 20, '95
OLD CAMPS IN BRITAIN.
The Coins and Other Relics Found
on Their Sites.

FROM the LONDON news.
The legions were in the west
country very early after the con-
quest under Cladius, and traces OF
their occupation have been found
at many points among these hills
(Mendip hills. Among the many
foundations of their cities we find
tesserllat9d flooring, still perfect af-
ter burial of fourteen centuries ;
and among their ruined settle
ments the pillow turns up frag-
ments Of Samian vases, dec
GRATED with spirited figures
OF lions and gladiatOrs, and
with ther exquisitely finished sur
faces as smooth as when they were
first lifted from the potter's wheel.
Almost numberless are the places
in the neighborhood where coins
of various periods OF the empire
have been discovered, sometimes
singly, sometimes in handsful,
sometimes even in boards OF many
hundreds. But of the native tribes
on whom the Roman laid their con-
quering hands we have much faint
er traces. In their hill forts we
find little but flint arrow heads,
and scraps Of pottery, and round
stones that may have been used
for singing. Their grave mounds
seldom contain more than a
rude urn and a handful Of ashes,
or a crumbling skeleton-at best
but few beads of jet or amber.
Their coins are OF extreme rarity.
The oldest British money with
which we are acquainted is Of gold,
and was copied from the Macedon-
ian slater of $50 years before the
Christian era--a fine piece of money,
bearing a laurel-wreathed head OF
Apollo on one side, and on the
other a chariot drawn by two
horses, and with one word, the
name OF Philip.
The British imitations-ofwhich
specimen was found not far from
this camp-have no lettering what
ever. 1t was not, indeed, until af-
ter Caesars landing that the ma
tive chieftains appear to have put
their names upon their coinage. OF
those who did so one was Cuno.
belin,t the Cymbeline Of Shakespeare,
and another was Commius, who,
in his time, gave so much trouble
to Caesar and Labienus, and who
since then has given even more to
untold generations of school boys.
The Romans had fortified
post on the hill that lies
two miles to the southwark. On
the rocky headland yonder, crown
ed now by the square gray tower
of long dismantled church, may
still be traced the ramparts
of the camp-a guard station
TO the port under the hill. A
hoard Of denaril was discovered in
a cave below the church, and even J
gold pieces Of some Of the early
emperOrs have been found hard by.
Had the attack on this fortress
been after the Roman days; had it,
for instance, been delivered by the
Danes or SaXons, the pit OF dwell
ings, as these holes are called, could
hardly fail to have yielded some
trace Of Roman influence.
Both Roman coins and Roman
pottery have been found within
the fortified area but in the dwell
ings themselves, not a coin, not
scrap Of Samian has rewarded the
search OF the explorers. Indeed,
the most careful examination has
brought to light few personal
effects Of the holders Of the
fortress, beyond some broken
bronze torques and armlets, few
iron spearheads, spikes OF the same
metal that may have served either
AS tools or weapons, a few flint
flakes, and quantity Of sun-dried
pottery. But when the earth and
stones with which some eighteen
centuries had filled up the pits
were cleared away, there were
found among the charred thatch
and broken rafters of their homes,
the bones of the men who died in
the vain attempt to bar the pas
sage of the legions, some lying
where they fell, others, perhaps,
where they had been thrown in by
the victors, for rude interment.
One skeleton was found face down
ward, with an iron weapon, per-
haps the very javelin point
that gave him his last hurt
still lying under him. One skull
may still be seen gashed with
seven sword cuts, and there is an
other that was severed by a single
blow, a stroke that cut clean
through one Of the vertebrae
There is one skeleton again that
bears traces OF towards" blows
skull and thigh bone both are
SCARED by cuts that were delivered
from behind. In another nit the