28 TREES IN NATURE, MYTH & ART 



cause for fear in the wild, fierce creatures, 

 the bear, the wolf and the boar for example, 

 that inhabited them. It has been suggested 

 that some of the prehistoric camps found on 

 the Downs, were defences rather against the 

 wild beasts that roamed the vast forests than 

 against human enemies. We now sleep com- 

 fortably in our beds, and if we awake in the 

 night and hear the hoot of the owl, or the 

 bark of the fox, we only feel it a trifle uncanny ; 

 we are not struck cold with fear. But what 

 said the Samoan chief to the missionary when 

 asked as to his idea of a deity? *' We know 

 that at night some one goes by amongst the 

 trees, but we never speak of it." 



Early man had as alternatives, not town or 

 country, with occasional holidays amid untamed 

 nature, he had the forest and the fen, the 

 bare upland, the vast plain, the desert and the 

 sea. How hardly with his poor tools and 

 weapons would he make headway against 

 fauna and flora that, if we may so put it, 

 had their own ends to serve. Think of the 

 difficulty with which the first forest-clearings 

 would be even kept clear ! Attributing con- 

 sciousness to everything having life and force, 



