Ponds on the Downs Summit 25 



of- the primeval trees, must then have had a strangely 

 different strategical position to what it now seemingly 

 occupies in the midst of almost treeless hills. Possibly, 

 too, the powerful effect of so many square miles of vegeta- 

 tion in condensing vapour may have had a distinct influence 

 upon the rainfall, and have rendered water more plentiful 

 than now : a consideration which may help to explain the 

 manner in which these ancient forts were held. 



The general deficiency of moisture characteristic of these 

 chalk hills is such that it is said agriculture flourishes best 

 upon them in what is called a ' dropping ' summer, when 

 there is a shower every two or three days, the soil absorbing 

 it so quickly. For the grass and hay crops down below in 

 the vale, and for the arable fields there with a stiff heavy 

 soil, on the other hand, a certain amount of dry weather is 

 desirable, else the plough cannot work in its seasons nor 

 the crops ripen or the harvest be garnered in. So that the 

 old saying was that in a drought the vale had to feed the 

 hill, and in a wet year the hill had to feed the vale : which 

 remains true to a considerable extent, so far at least as the 

 cattle are concerned, and was probably true of men and 

 their food also before the importation of corn in such im- 

 mense quantities placed both alike free from anxiety on that 

 account. This deficiency of moisture being borne in mind, 

 it is a little curious to find ponds of water on the very 

 summit of the down. 



Scarcely a quarter of a mile from the earthwork, and 

 on a level with it — close to the clump of firs and beech 

 alluded to previously — there may be seen on this warm 

 summer day a broad, circular, pan-like depression partially 

 filled with water. Being on the very top of the ridge, and 

 only so far sunk as to hold a sufficient quantity, there is 

 little or no watershed to drain into the pond ; neither is 



