Recent Wiltshire Books, Pamphlets, Articles, &c. 441 



conflict might be carried on without stampeding the herds in the camp 

 above . . . The presence of cordons of shouting men stationed tier 

 above tier on tlie platforms would probably have been suflicient to drive 

 off the howling wolves." Surely nothing can be more fanciful than this. 

 Has anybody ever heard in Europe or America of such " wolf platforms " 

 in recent days ? or is it conceivable that even Neolithic wolves could 

 have been such fools as to be put off effectually by men on platforms 

 here and there at the base of Martinsell when they could equally well 

 attack the cattle camp from the comparatively level ground on the top 

 by going a mile or so round ? Surely it is far more reasonable to suppose 

 that the cattle were protected against the wolves at night in Neolithic 

 days by precisely the same means employed at the present day in Africa 

 against lions. A cattle kraal surrounded by a tall and strong thorn 

 fence is sufficient protection for African cattle against the lions to-daj', 

 and a similar " camp," with a palisade of wood, or of thick and high 

 thorns would certainly be more effectual against the wolf and be infinitely 

 easier to construct than any number of " platforms with shouting men." 

 In fact the whole theory here broached as to the " platforms " seems an 

 ingenious darkening of counsel. On the other hand, when the authors 

 suggest that some of the circular depressions to be seen at Martinsell and 

 elsewhere, which seem too large for the site of a dwelling, are really 

 flint pits, excavated for the purpose of obtaining fresh flint from the 

 chalk, which is far easier to work than flint which has been lying long 

 on the surface, there is reason at all events in the suggestion, and there 

 is much also to be said in favour of their contention that the deep cuttings 

 leading down from Martinsell and other camps are really the old cattle 

 roads, worn deep into the chalk by the agelong tramping of the herds, 

 though whether the plan of these "cattle ways" warrants the elaborate 

 series of Sherlock Holmes like deductions here set forth as to the 

 history of the settlements on Martinsell and Huish Hill, is quite another 

 question. 



Memorials of Old Wiltshire. Edited by Alice Dryden, with 

 many illustrations. London, Bemrose & Sons. 1906. 8vo, cloth, 

 pp. X. + 267. Price 15*. 



This is one of the series of " Memorials of the Counties of England," 

 now being published bj' Messrs. Bemrose. It is a handsome book, on 

 good paper, well printed and with excellent photo illustrations The 

 various chapters are by twenty different writers, and of course vary much 

 in value and authority. The opening article on " Historic Wiltshire," 

 by M. Edwards, attempts the well-nigh impossible task of compressing 

 the history of two thousand years into 15 pages. The next, on the other 

 hand, takes " Three Notable Houses " for its theme, and on it Mr. J. A. 

 Gotch tells us much that is worth knowing about the building of Wilton, 

 Longleat, and Longford. We have here information not to be readily 

 found elsewhere, and it is really one of the best articles in the book, 

 illustrated with excellent photo views of the three houses concerned. 



"Prehistoric Circles," by A. M.Mackenzie, deals with Stonehenge, 



VOL. XXXIV. — NO. CVI. 2 H 



