Deficiency of Moisture. 27 



beaver and the marten, the wild boar and the wolf, 

 roamed over the country. 



This great earthwork, crowning a ridge from 

 whence a view for many miles could have been ob- 

 tained over the tops of the primeval trees, must 

 then have had a strangely different strategical posi- 

 tion to what it now seemingly occupies in the midst 

 of almost treeless hills. Possibly, too, the powerful 

 effect of so many square miles of vegetation in con- 

 densing vapor may have had a distinct influence 

 upon the rainfall, and have rendered water more 

 plentiful than now : a consideration which may help 

 to explain the manner in which these ancient forts 

 were held. 



The general deficiency of moisture characteristic 

 of these chalk hills is such that it is said agriculture 

 flourishes best upon them in what is called a ' drop- 

 ping ' summer, when there is a shower every two or 

 three daj's, the soil absorbing it so quickly. For the 

 grass and hay crops down below in the vale, and for 

 the arable fields there with a stiff heavy soil, on the 

 other hand, a certain amount of dry weather is desir- 

 able, else the plough cannot work in its seasons nor 

 the crops ripen or the harvest be garnered in. So 

 that the old saying was that in a drought the vale 

 had to feed the hill, and in a wet year the hill had to 

 feed the vale : which remains true to a considerable 

 extent, so far at least as the cattle are concerned, 

 and was probably true of men and their food also 

 before the importation of corn in such immense 

 quantities placed both alike free from anxiety on 

 that account. This deficiency of moisture being 

 borne in mind, it is a little curious to find ponds of 

 water on the very summit of the down. 



