24 Wild Life in a Southern County. 
horny fingers: coins are generally found after a 
shower, on the same principle that the gold-seekers 
wash away the auriferous soil in the ‘cradle,’ and lay 
bare the yellow atoms. Such coins,.too, are some- 
times of the same precious metal, ancient and rude. 
Sometimes the edge of the hoe clinks against a coin, 
thus at last discovered after so many centuries ; yet 
which for years must have lain so near the surface as 
to have been turned over and over again by the 
ploughshare, though unnoticed. 
The magnitude of the space enclosed by the 
earthwork, the height of the rampart and depth of the 
fosse, show that it was originally intended to be 
occupied by a large force. With modern artillery, 
the mitrailleuse, and above all the breech-loading 
rifle, a comparatively small number of men could 
hold a commanding position like this: a steep ascent 
on three sides, and on the fourth a narrow level ridge, 
easily swept by their fire. But when this entrench- 
ment was thrown up—the chalky earth and flints 
probably carried up in osier-baskets, for they do not 
seem to have had wheelbarrows in those times— 
every single yard of rampart required its spear or 
threatening arrow, so as to present an unbroken rank 
along the summit. If not, the enemy approaching to 
close quarters and attacking several places at once 
would find gaps through which they might pour into 
the camp. It seems, therefore, evident that these 
works once sheltered an army ; and, looking at their 
