120 PLINT FINDS. 



the southern slope of the great chalk formation of the South 

 Downs of Sussex.* They were derived from a small gravel-pit 

 used for the walks of a garden, and most assuredly had never had 

 any other application of the hand of man than the primary dig- 

 ging by the gardener, and the casual picking up by the collector. 

 Among them will be found " flint flakes," " flint chips," " bulbs of 

 percussion," " knives," and other fashionable denominations of flint 

 finds. One knife in particular, if labelled "Abbeville," or " Menche- 

 court," would pass muster amongst the most select of the class. 



My observations were exceedingly limited, not extending over 

 a space more than 100 feet square; but enough was found within 

 these limits to show that the proofs of human fabrication must be 

 much stronger before we can safely admit all the inferences of 

 modern flint-finders. 



It is commonly known among the Sussex Downs that flints, 

 when first dug out of the earth, are so soft and liable to split that 

 they are not fit to be used for road-making, but have to be ex- 

 posed for months to the wind, and especially to the sun, before 

 they become hardened enough to resist the wear and tear of 

 vehicles and traffic. When a layer of flints is first dug up, the 

 "chips" and "flakes," the "cores," "knives," &c., &c., would 

 rather puzzle the cockney savant ; and he might make up a choice 

 tray of "implements," of any calculable, or incalculable date, 

 without fatiguing himself by extensive researches. If he could be 

 supposed to go to Caernarvonshire, and undertake the trouble of 

 climbing up Snowdon from the Capel Curig side, by the gorges 

 above Llyn Llydaw j — if he could attain the summit of the Glydr, 

 with its hone quarry ; — or if he could clamber over the gigantic 

 heaps of d6bris, and the old moraines round the gloomy shores of 

 Llpi Idwal, he might pick up "axes," "mauls," "hammers," &c., 

 enough to prove anything, — except the fact of their having been 

 made by the hand of man ; and he might, in point of date, knock 

 the Abbeville and the Metropolitan collectors all to shivers ! 



* These specimens are now deposited in the Museum of the lioyal 

 Institution of Cormrall, labelled : " Flint-flakes and Knives, from near 

 Arundel. Presented by the Eev. H. Longueville Jones, M.A." 



