THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 201 



chief cause is to be found in the peculiar laws which relate 

 to land in this part of the country. 



In Kent, the fixed property of the head of a family 

 dying intestate, does not by law descend absolutely to 

 the oldest son, as is the case in the rest of England. 

 Lands, except such as come under a special act of the 

 legislature, are held in gavdkind ; that is to say, divided 

 in equal portions among the sons of the father dying 

 without a will, and, in default of male children, among his 

 daughters. This is supposed to have been the common 

 practice in England before the Norman conquest, but it 

 now exists only in Kent and a few other localities. This 

 ancient custom, more than anything else, has tended to 

 the subdivision of land ; and in this respect, as well as in 

 some other particulars, Kent resembles more a province 

 of France than an English county. It is true that the 

 national feeling is against this dispensation of the law, 

 which is not the case with us. Most parents take care to 

 provide for the oldest son by will ; others desire to have 

 their property placed by special law upon the footing of 

 equal right. The number of yeomen, or proprietors who 

 cultivate their own lands, is still considerable in Kent; 

 but this class, found only there and in certain mountain- 

 ous districts, begins to disappear before the new constitu- 

 tion of property and farming. 



Kent is among the most populous counties in England ; 

 it contains about five hundred and fifty thousand inha- 

 bitants'* upon an area of one million acres, or more than 

 one head to two acres, which is about the same popula- 

 tion as our department of the Bas-Khin. Fortunately 

 this population is not solely dependent upon its agricul- 

 ture for subsistence. If industry, properly speaking, is 

 rather inactive, commerce at least is flourishing, owing 



* By the last census, six hundred thousand. 



