So much for the sepultural character of barrows : But there is another no less interesting aspect, in which the British barrows at least are to be viewed ; viz. as parts of an system of vigilance and communication.. " These barrows," says Mr Stack house, " are like as many mirrors, placed with such optical skill and accuracy, that they conduct the vi sual ray from point to point, through all the windings and recesses of those circuitous dells which they are evidently intended to overlook." We are informed by Caesar, that the Gauls, from whom the Britons descended, conveyed intelligence with wonderful ce lerity through the fields and cantons, by shouting with all their might ; thus the news was commu nicated from one to another, so that what happened at Orleans at sunrise, was known at Auvergne before- nine in the evening, though the distance is 160 miles.. (De Bello Gallico, lib. vit. Mr Stackhouse conjectures, therefore, with great probability, that persons must have been regularly stationed for the express purpose of conveying tidings of any remark able event, otherwise these dispatches must have been liable to continual interruption.. To this purpose, and to a much more speedy communication, the bar rows, constructed and arranged according to prin. ciples, which, after an attentive examination, he has plainly detected, are most admirably adapted. The principles of their construction and position are these : 1st, They form intermediate points of direct commu nication, either between the castles and the beacons,. (the extremities of the immense chain of vigilance and defence,) or between the temples and the nearest castle. 2d, They communicate ryleclively from one to another through all the windings of those dells which intersect the downs. 3d, One or more bar rows are placed at the extremities of a long and straight valley, so as to command a longitudinal view of the same. 4th, Barrows are sometimes ranged on the sides of these long dells, so as to command a later al view of the opposite declivities. 5th, The magni tude and position of each barrow is determined by the point to which its visual line is directed, and not, as has been supposed, by its monumental office, or the dignity of the person interred within it. 6th,
Groups of barrows are uniformly limited to the downs only ; hut eminent stations are occasionally distin guished by one or two barrows, in parts of the coun try to which the barrow system is not adapted, and where, of course, they can only occur in this de tached manner. 7th, A barrow is never found larger than its station, that is, the point to which its visual line is assigned, requires. 8th, Where a barrow of ex traordinary magnitude was necessary, no labour bar; been spared. 9th, Barrows are seldom found in low ; but where a harrow is erected in a hollow or valley, it is almost always a very large one 10th, The visual lines from the barrows on the summit of a ridge, often 'terminate at a distance from the foot, so as to leave room for a body of men to move along un seen : this is remedied by placing one or •more bar rows so as completely to command the whole range of the declivity at its base. I Ith, The whole of these particular principles are concentrated into this gene ral one, that there is not a single spot, within the bar row district, which is not exposed to at least one of -these all-pervading points ; and such is the perfection 'with which this great design is executed, that even a single individual could not proceed twenty yards in any •direction without being seen, supposing the watch on •these barrows to be set. The illustration of these principles is taken by Mr Stackhouse froth the Dor chesterDowns ; and after walking considerably above a hundred miles among the barrows in the vicinity of Dorchester and Weymeuth, he found it impossible to get wholly out of sight of them all, except in two or three instances, where the plough has completely levelled, or greatly depressed, the barrow assigned to that particular station. For further information on this subject, we refer our readers to Stackhouse's Il lustration of Tumuli or Ancient Barrows ; Gough's Sepulchral Monuments of Britain ; Douglas's Nen Britannica ; King's Mnnimenta Britannia:; Phi 4sophical Transactions, No. 453. ; Archceotogia, vol. ii. and xii. ; Britton's Beauties of Wiltshire, vol. ii.; kind Clarke's Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa, part i. p. 316, 428, Ste. (IL)