found an earthenware
vessel, containing some black earth and a leaden spoon. The spoon was
given to Mr. Praed, of Trevethow; the kist-vaen was utterly destroyed.

In Bosprennis Cross there was a very large coit or cromlech. It is said to
have been fifteen feet square, and not more than one foot thick in any
part. This was broken in two parts some years since, and taken to Penzance
to form the beds of two ovens.

The curious caves and passages at Chysauster have been destroyed for
building purposes within living memory.

Another Cornishman, Mr. Bellows, reports as follows:--

"In a field between the recently discovered Beehive hut and the
Boscawen-un circle, out of the public road, we discovered part of
a 'Nine Maidens,' perhaps the third of the circle, the rest of the
stones being dragged out and placed against the hedge, to make
room for the plough."

The same intelligent antiquarian remarks:--

"The Boscawen-un circle seems to have consisted originally of
twenty stones. Seventeen of them are upright, two are down, and a
gap exists of exactly the double space for the twentieth. We found
the missing stone not twenty yards off. A farmer had removed it,
and made it into a gate-post. He had cut a road through the
circle, and in such a manner that he was obliged to remove the
offending stone to keep it straight. Fortunately the present
proprietress is a lady of taste, and has surrounded the circle
with a good hedge to prevent further Vandalism."

Of the Men-an-tol, at Boleit, we have received the following description
from Mr. Botterell, who supplied Mr. Hunt with so many of his Cornish
tales:--

"These stones are from twenty to twenty-five feet above the
surface, and we were told by some folks of Boleit that more than
ten feet had been sunk near, without finding the base. The
Men-an-tol have both been displaced, and removed a considerable
distance from their original site. They are now placed in a hedge,
to form the side of a gateway. The upper portion of one is so much
broken that one cannot determine the angle, yet that it worked to
an angle is quite apparent. The other is turned downward, and
serves as the hanging-post of a gate. From the head being buried
so deep in the ground, only part of the hole (which is in both
stones about six inches diameter) could be seen; though the hole
is too small to