268 rOOTPRINTS of vanished EACES in CORNWALL. 



The materials at our disposal for carrying out this investiga- 

 iton, are scanty. I do not mean that Cornwall is poor in 

 prehistoric relics ; far from it, it is very rich indeed. Our barrows^ 

 camps, stone monuments, ancient graves, and Roman remains, 

 form a most extensive collection of antiquities. But most of these 

 belong to later times than those which I am about to consider, for 

 they are generally included in the Celtic era, and belong to the 

 Ages of Bronze and Iron. I am concerned only with vanished 

 races, and the Celts are amongst us now, and exhibit no tendency 

 to disappear. I am only investigating the people of Cornwall in 

 the Stone Age, for these are the true prehistoric races. Thus, 

 many of our antiquities must be eliminated from the discussion. 

 There remain — Greology, with its included relics; Folklore, with 

 its legends and traditions ; Custom, which cannot be traced to 

 any existing European source ; Archaeology in its most ancient 

 treasures. And, in addition, scattered up and down in ancient 

 history, there are obscure hints and statements which must all be 

 collected, arranged and woven together with the materials fur- 

 ni&hied by the other sciences. 



Although the Glacial Period prevailed in many parts of Great 

 Britain with great intensity, it is extremely doubtful if Cornwall 

 was glaciated during the great Ice Age.^ I know that the opposite 

 opinion has been maintained by many talented observers. It has 

 been held,^ that during the Glacial Period central Devon was 

 covered with a snow-cap, a portion of which melted every summer. 

 The opinion, also, has been expressed, that at the same time the 

 central ridge of Cornwall was buried beneath great snow-fields, 

 from which glaciers descended to our northern and southern 

 shores.' The great blocks of quartz on our Cornish commons 

 have also been thought to have been carried thither by moving 

 ice,^ and the "Head of Bubble" in our clift's has been con- 

 sidered to have been formed by torrents of muddy water pouring 

 over them during the summer melting of sheets of snow.^ The 



5. Professor J. A. Geikie in his map of the extent of glaciated area during the 

 Glacial Period, which he gives in his able work, entitled Prehistoric Europe, shows 

 that the glaciated area of Great Britain did not ccme as far south as Cornwall. 



6. By Mr. R. N. Worth, Trans. Devon Assoc.,imi. 



7. See Ussher's Post Tertiary Geology of Cornwall, p. 49. 



8. By Mr. C. W. Peach, Trans. Royal Geol. Soc. of Cornwall, vol., IX, p. 103. 



9. Post Tertiary Geology of Cornwall, by Mr. W. A. E. Ussher, pp 42-43. Sir 

 Joseph Prestwich entirely dissents from Mr. Ussher's view as to the formation of the 

 Head, and considers it to be a diluvial formation. . . 



