EARLY ASPECT OF BRITAIN 17 



climatal changes onward from the later phases of 

 the Ice-Age, during which the country witnessed 

 successive migrations of northern and southern mam- 

 mals accompanied by Palaeolithic and Neolithic men. 

 The raised beaches and sunk forests contain relics 

 of contemporary human workmanship which prove 

 that man had already become an inhabitant of Britain 

 before the land had settled into its present level 

 above the sea. 



It may be of advantage to consider here, from the 

 various sources of information above enumerated, 

 what appears to have been the condition of the surface 

 of Britain at the dawn of authentic history and what 

 have been the nature and origin of the changes which 

 this surface has undergone within historic time. When 

 the light of human testimony first begins to fall upon 

 Britain at the advent of the Romans, the general 

 aspect of the country must have presented in many 

 respects a contrast to that which is now to be seen ; 

 and notably in the wide spread of its forests, in the 

 abundance of its bogs and fens, and (through the 

 northern districts) in the vast number of its lakes. 



At the first coming of the Romans by far the larger 

 part of the country was probably covered with wood. 

 During the centuries of Roman occupation some of 

 the less dense parts of the woodland were cleared. In 

 driving their magnificent straight highways through 

 the country, the Roman legionaries felled the trees 

 for seventy yards on each side of a road, in order 

 to secure themselves from the arrows of a lurking 

 foe. So stupendous was the labour thus involved, 

 that they gladly avoided forests where that was 



