EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. 19 



and axes that might deceive even the elect. It is probable that 

 this little Suffolk town turns out more modern imitations of 

 ancient flint implements than does all the rest of England. One 

 collector, to prevent deception, made it a condition of purchase 

 that he should himself see the finding of the implements. This 

 was all very well ; but anyone that has tried it knows that this 

 searching is a wearisome occupation, and the results are by no 

 means always commensurate with the time employed. What did 

 the knappers do then but manufacture their arrow-heads, and 

 bury them overnight in certain marked spots. And how could 

 the worthy antiquary have any suspicions when he saw the 

 implements turned up before his eyes. Not long ago a certain 

 landowner in Suffolk offered a premium for each flint implement 

 found upon his estate. They came in units at longer or shorter 

 intervals, until one of the men hit upon the happy expedient of 

 buying the modern implements at a cheap rate and then selling 

 them to his master, a course which he will doubtless pursue 

 until that day when " comes the reck'ning, the dreadful reck'ning, 

 and men smile no more." 



Of late years there has been quite a revival in the manufacture 

 of spurious implements in north-west Suffolk, and undoubtedly 

 those turned out are beautiful specimens of the knapper's art. In 

 fact they are too beautiful and perfect. Rarely indeed do we find 

 an arrow-head, for instance, that was discarded or lost thousands 

 of years ago, quite perfect. Either the point, the stem, or one of 

 the barbs is damaged. But these modern implements are mathe- 

 matically correct, with never a chip in the wrong place. The 

 friction of the sand and the action of the atmosphere always 

 causes a polish on the ancient implements, and to effect this on 

 the modern implements, which are somewhat dull on being first 

 chipped, they are buried for some weeks in hot sand, and care is 

 taken when they are removed to leave some of this adhering. 

 And when you express doubts as to the genuineness of the 

 implements, the vendors triumphantly point out the soil which 

 still adheres. Polishing with rags is also one of the methods of 

 imparting an antiquated appearance to a spurious implement, 

 and the process is more rapid than that of the hot sand. 



There is more often than not a middleman between the 

 knapper and the collector. He obtains the name of the latter 



c2 



