Hunting in the Olden Time. 27 
sortie, and if the enemy were in sufficient force and 
took possession of the spring, they could compel an 
engagement, or drive the besieged to surrender rather 
than endure the tortures of thirst. So that a study of 
these English hills—widely different as are the con- 
ditions of time and place—may throw a strong light 
upon many an incident of ancient history. There are 
no traces remaining of any covered way or hollow 
dyke leading down the slope in the direction of the 
spring ; but some such traces do seem to exhibit 
themselves in two places—at the rear of the earth- 
work along the ridge of the hill, and down the steepest 
and shortest ascent. The first does not come up to 
the entrenchment, being separated by a wide interval ; 
the latter does, and may possibly have been used as a 
covered way, though now much obliterated and too 
shallow for the purpose. The rampart itself is in 
almost perfect preservation ; in one spot the soil has 
slightly slipped, but form and outline are everywhere 
distinct. 
In endeavouring, however, for a moment to glance 
back into the unwritten past, and to reconstruct 
the conditions of some fourteen or fifteen cen- 
turies since, it must not be forgotten that the 
downs may then have presented a different appear- 
ance. There isa tradition lingering still that they 
were in the olden times almost covered with wood. I 
have tried to fix this tradition—to focus it and give 
it definite shape ; but like a mist visible froma distance 
