ANCIENT CATTLE WAYS 197 



separate Italian vineyards. The site has evidently- 

 been chosen with a view to avoiding as much as 

 possible the onslaught of the south-west or pre- 

 vailing wind, and this has been aimed at even more 

 than the attainment of the full force of the midday 

 sun, from which it may be concluded that these 

 terraces were laid out by those who were accustomed 

 to the excessive sun-heat of a southern land. 



The old shepherd knew all about the raised earth- 

 works and said that in a very old book that his 

 grandmother had shown him they were described 

 as the earliest gardens of the community. " Some 

 do say as how the tracks that run down in their 

 midst were used for cattle, and close round yonder 

 bend of hill you will see where they lead to, and 

 some do say that it be the place where the Romans, 

 they do tell, kept their beasts fenced in at night 

 time." The pronunciation of the word " beastie " 

 would alone betray my friend to be a true Sussex 

 man and recalls the Middle Ages in the way in which 

 the " Kynges Beasties " at Hampton Court were 

 written and no doubt spoken of. 



It is only on Downland that we find the lasting 

 remains of human work that existed long ago. 

 There are no such traces to be discovered in country 

 where woods abound, because falling leaves and 

 decaying wood conceal to a great extent what early 

 man built up for his defence or for his bodily 

 nourishment. Ploughed land, with its freshly 

 turned sods, does away with old landmarks, and 

 down in the hollows rushing streams, river-beds, 

 and drifting sand may completely change the 

 undulations of a country. But that which has once 



