CHAP. VIIL] BRITAIN OCCUPIED BY TRIBAL COMMUNITIES. 283 



group of hills, writes General Lane Fox, in the South 

 Downs, had a stronghold of its own, intended " to contain 

 the inhabitants of the surrounding district, who dwelt 

 in the valleys beneath, where fuel and water were obtain- 

 able, and where traces of their cultivation still exist, and 

 who, like the savages of Africa and many other parts of 

 the world, resorted to their strongholds in times of 

 danger, each man carrying with him fuel, water, and 

 provisions sufficient to sustain him until the foe retired." 



Britain occupied by Tribal Communities. 



The abundance of these camps gives us a clue to the 

 social condition of the country at the time. The popu- 

 lation was large, but it was split up into small tribal 

 communities normally at war with each other, like the 

 Afghans, the Kaffirs, or the villagers encountered by 

 Mr. Stanley in his voyage down the Congo, each ready 

 either to defend itself or to take the opportunity of 

 attacking any of its neighbours. There was probably 

 no strong central military power ; but each tribe obeyed 

 its own chief, whose dominion was limited to the pastures 

 and cultivated lands protected by his fort, and extended 

 but a little way into the depths of the forest, which were 

 the hunting-grounds common to him and his neighbours. 1 

 There must have been social differences resulting from 

 the possession of property, principally in the shape of 

 flocks and herds ; and the variation in size and in the 

 contents of the burial-places shows that it was unequally 

 distributed. 



1 The social state of Britain at this time is fairly represented in the 

 well-known nursery rhyme of the marauding " Taffy," if for " house " we 

 substitute camp. 



