BRITISH CATTLE STATIONS. 143 



exlsted in great wealth and splendour down to the time 

 of the reformatlon, rendered illustrious by the residence of 

 such men as St. Patrick, St. Paulinus, St. Dunstan, Gildas 

 the historian, and many others. Tradition teils us that 

 here St. Joseph of Arimathtea established the first Chris- 

 tian Church in these islands, and that here the Christian 

 warrior King Arthur, having fought well and gallantly 

 against the northern heathen who were overwhelming his 

 country by their constantly repeated invasions, rested from 

 his labours after the fatal fight on the banks of Camlan. 

 So interesting is it to the historian, the Christian, and the 

 poet, that no excuse need be raade for endeavouring to 

 learn all that is known about it, or for invcstigating the 

 marks of ancient occupation which still exist around it, 

 with even more afFectionate care than the archnsologist will 

 always be ready to devote to the search after the truth of 

 things however remote in date or apparently unimportant 

 in exten t. 



Now, as I before said, Avalon in primasval days miist 

 have presented the appearance of a peninsula. Wearyal 

 Hill, Chalice Hill, and the Tor, rising boldly from the 

 surrounding morass, encircle a small Valley, in which re- 

 posed in its majesty the mighty Abbey of Glastonbury. 

 But long before the building of the wooden church, where 

 it may be St. Paul himself had preached the gospel of 

 peace, this peninsula had attracted the attention of the 

 aboriginal inhabitants of the country, and a great cattle 

 Station had undoubtedly been established there. The 

 wealth of the primajval Britons consisted, as we know, 

 chiefly in herds of cattle, to which the marshy ground of 

 the estuary no doubt afForded a plentiful supply of food, 

 and of course cnclosed places of shelter and refuge were 

 required both for the hcrds and the herdsmen. These 



