37 



until coming to a field with a ravine at the bottom, it seemed 

 to me as if the flint implements for the whole of Devon and 

 Cornwall must formerly have been manufactured here. The 

 corn had hardly been cleared off the field — in fact, the shocks 

 were still standing — but nevertheless, in spite of the obstacle 

 of the newly-cut stubble, I had but to sit down, and within 

 reach of me on both sides gather a plentiful crop ; and 

 my bag and pockets were soon filled with " cores," " scrapers," 

 and "flakes." Nearly the whole of these flints were dis- 

 coloured by long exposure on the surface. 



Descending from this field to the small ravine, with a 

 trickling streamlet running seawards, I found myself on the 

 spot where Spence Bate, Wliitley, Hall, and others have 

 discovered so many specimens. A short half hour's digging 

 speedily showed me that their facts were true ; however much 

 one may feel disposed to disagree with their theories. The 

 "head" here assumes a thickness of 10 feet ; in the topmost 

 layer of earth and debris, to the depth of 2 feet where the 

 yellow clay commences, " flakes," " cores," and chippings 

 were found in abundance. Time did not permit me to 

 count them accurately, but Mr. Bate observes that there were 

 about 144 " cores," to 1,000 other specimens. The last-men- 

 tioned writer thinks these implements were brought down in 

 the " wash " from the field above. With this view I cannot 

 agree, as the " flakes" in every case presented sharp, fresh, and 

 unworn edges, which they could scarcely have done had they 

 been carried down by a " wash." They were, too, in every 

 case comparatively fresh in appearance, merely stained by the 

 matrix in which they were found, not white and decomposed 

 like those in the field above. It seems to me far mox's 

 probable that just at this point, where the coast sloped down 

 to the little cove, the manufacturers (whoever they might 

 have been) lived and worked. This may have been the focus 

 of their trade, and to this point the flint pebbles were 



