o similar buildings
(D, E). This looks as if this portion of the fort was filled with four
barracks. On the other side of the row of buildings I-III remains
were traced of stone structures; one of these (F) had the L-shape
characteristic of barracks, and indications point to two others (G, H)
of the same shape. This implies six barrack buildings in this portion
of the fort and ten barrack buildings in all, that is, a cohort 1,000
strong. But the whole fort is only just 3 acres, and one would expect a
smaller garrison; when excavations have advanced, we may perhaps find
that the garrison was really a _cohors quingenaria_ with six barracks,
as at Gellygaer. Close against the east rampart, and indeed cutting
somewhat into it, was a long thin building (K), 12-16 feet wide, which
yielded much charcoal and potsherds and seemed an addition to the
original plan of the fort.

[Illustration: FIG. 4. PART OF SLACK FORT

(I. Granaries; II. Doubtful; III. Head-quarters; A. Shrine in III; B, C,
D, E. Wooden buildings in western part of fort; F, G, H, K. Stone
buildings in eastern part)]

The few small finds included Samian of the late first and early second
centuries (but no '29'), and a denarius of Trajan. In respect of date,
they agree with the finds of last year and of 1865, and suggest that
the fort was established under Domitian or Trajan, and abandoned under
Hadrian or Pius; as an inscription of the Sixth Legion was found here in
1744, apparently in the baths, the evacuation cannot have been earlier
than about A.D. 130. The occupation of Slack must therefore have
resembled that of Castleshaw, which stands at the western end of the
pass through the Pennine Hills, which Slack guards on the east. If this
be so, an explanation must be discovered for two altars generally
assigned to Slack. One of these, found three miles north of Slack at
Greetland in 1597 among traces of buildings, is dated to A.D. 205 (CIL.
vii. 200). The other, found two miles eastwards, at Longwood, in 1880
(Eph. Epigr. vii. 920), bears no date; but it was erected by an Aurelius
Quintus to the Numina Augustorum, and neither item quite suits so early
a date as the reign of Trajan. The dedication of the first is to the
goddess Victoria--_Vic_(_toria_) _Brig_(_antia_)--that of the second
_deo Berganti_ (as well as the _Numina Aug._); so that in each case a
local shrine to a native deity may be concerned. It is also possible
that a fort was built near Greetland,