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I think the point of "passing the barrows on the west side" was discussed briefly in the Chapter 7 thread, but I would like to point some more things out here as pertain to this chapter. First of all, when the hobbits come upon that stone where they eat lunch by and fall asleep against, they sit with their backs to the east side. Warning bells, anyone? When they wake up, their is a cold gray shadow over them stretching out easterward (because of the sun setting in the west). Also, because of the sun, the fog on the western side of the hollow is not so thick or white. The hobbits get up and try to get away from the Barrow-downs, and Frodo becomes separated. The wind is blowing from the east, and the Barrow-wight that finds him also looms up on his right, and since he is going north, that too came from the eastern side. Tom's warning seems to have been proven true indeed! It rather makes me wonder what would have happened if the hobbits had taken their rest on the west side of the stone instead.
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