in dress and weapons which changed and altered from time to time. But we know too little of these—and, it may be added, of the garrison at Newstead, legionary or auxiliary—to deduce from our finds the race or even the rank of the wearers.
Leather
The soldier of the Empire was clad in leather. Under his armour he wore a coat or jerkin, which is sometimes represented as cut quite short below the waist, the serrated edges appearing beneath the armour, and sometimes as being prolonged into a kilt-like skirt reaching almost to the knees. Not infrequently he wears short tight-fitting breeches ending at the calf of the leg, while over the shoulders hangs a cape or a long military cloak (sagum) which could be wrapped round the body.
Although no single complete garment could be put together, many pieces of this leather clothing occurred among the find. Three of the larger and more perfect of these may be specially noted. They measure respectively twenty-three inches by seventeen inches, twenty-six and a half inches by fifteen inches, and twenty-three and a half inches by eighteen and a half inches. All had their margins carefully stitched, and seemed to have originally belonged to tunics. In addition to having their margins stitched, many of the pieces show near the edging lines of needle holes, usually circular but sometimes square, indicating where a patch had been applied. Two more or less triangular fragments, twelve inches by seven inches and eleven inches by six inches, stitched as usual along their margin, have a square patch at the apex. These would seem to have formed the lappets of a cloak. Another piece, approximately semi-circular in shape and measuring twenty inches by twelve inches, shows at the edge a series of needle-holes in the form of a star. Numerous examples of the patches themselves came from the pits. They are of varying shapes and sizes, the needle-holes being always visible round the margin (Plate XIX., Figs. 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, and 14). Some of them had no doubt been inserted in order to mend cuts or tears in the leather, but others, especially those of more or less circular form, must have been intended to secure and strengthen the loops by which the garments to which they belonged were fastened. Many of these circular patches had in the middle two small holes placed opposite each other with a narrow band of leather between. The edge of the leather between the holes invariably showed signs of having been pulled outwards, a feature which was ultimately explained by the discovery of a patch still retaining the remains of a loop formed by a leather thong which was knotted behind it (Plate XIX., Fig. 13). One of
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