238 



have discovered enclosures of a similar kind to them within the camp 

 in a field of mine called Bushy Norwood, on the south side of the 

 camp, where I am now carrying on some excavations to which I 

 shall invite your attention. 



It has, I think, been shown that we have here a considerable camp, 

 occupjfing an important military position in pre-historic times. 



What traces there may be of Eoman occuDation I am not prepared 

 to say, a small fragment of pottery being all I have found by 

 excavation ; but it is certain that this must have been one of the forts 

 garrisoned by Ostorius on the Avon and Severn rivers when he marched 

 against tlie Silures in South Wales. Mr. Scarth found traces of a 

 Roman camp on what was Claverton Down ; but the plough has 

 probably obliterated it. We are, however, on the present occasion 

 dealing with its occupation by the Belgre as their frontier fortress. 

 Now who were the Belgfe ? This is a question which has puzzled a 

 good many antiquaries ; bat it is fairly solved by the researches of 

 the late Dr. Guest, given to the world in a posthumous work of his 

 " Origines Cdticce." 



He says, " the Belgre were a powerful and aggressive people, but 

 from what quarter they had intruded themselves into the seats where we 

 find them settled is a difficult question to answer. Csesar says that the 

 country of Gaul was parcelled out among three great tribes — Belqoe, 

 Celtce and Aquitani — and he makes the Seine and the Marne the 

 Southern boundary of the Belgie. The basin of the Ehone and 

 8aone with Toulouse the capital was called ' Provincia ' by the 

 Eomans (' Provence ' now), and this was occupied by the Volcpe — 

 another reading of Bolcte or Belcse the V" and B being interchange- 

 able letters. These Volcre were traced also to Ancyra in Asia 

 Minor, whither the Belgoe under Bi'ennus some centuries before 

 had passed from Byzantium. Jerome says, the people of Ancyra 

 spoke the same language as those of Toulouse. Identity of language 

 in this case means identity of race." These Volca3 were also called 

 Tectosages ; the meaning of which, says Guest, is the wayfaring men 

 who wore cloaks of skins, i.e.., shepherds or herdsmen ; and curiously 

 enough the Scythians who drove some of these same Belgaj from the 

 basin of the Danube over into Asia, were also called Belcse or Tecto 

 sages. The name being a collective term for their occupation as herds- 

 men, Dr. Guest pursues the matter by an argument from etymology. 



