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NOTES AND QUERIES
and by aboriginal tribes. Is it too far to strain coincidence to think that these fragments may represent household articles brought to Lantau by the remnants of the Sung court and army during their wanderings in this remote corner of Kwangtung in the period of their final defeat in this region and afterwards when they sought refuge on Lantau? This is a tempting hypothesis which has yet to be proved.
It is difficult to say whether the finds were located together in one place or were scattered over a larger area. Investigation on the site shows that they might all have come from one hilltop facing the sea, in which case they might have come from a burial, though no bones, or fragments of bone were found. It is also possible that they came from a temporary dwelling site. It is hard to say because this area has been used for burials by the Shek Pik people for hundreds of years and differentiation of what are commonly known as bone pots (kam taap) and household utensils is difficult: many small fragments of this very common production were found all over the hillside where the other finds were discovered.
POSTSCRIPT
Since this note was written more fragments of porcelain have been found, and a puzzling feature is that there are tiny fragments of many pots. Could they come from a temporary living site and represent breakages? It is difficult to say.
J. W. HAYES,