22 JVild Life in a Southern County 



Mater must have been liable to be cut off from the main 

 body ; there were no cannon then to cover a 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 conditions 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 direc- 

 tion of the spring ; but some such traces do seem to exhibit 

 themselves in two places — at the rear of the earthwork 

 along the ridge of the hill, and down the steepest and 

 shortest ascent. The first does not come up to the entrench- 

 ment, 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 centuries since, it must not be 

 forgotten that the downs may then have presented a diffe- 

 rent appearance. There is a 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 from a distance yet 

 unseen when you are actually in it, it refuses to be grasped. 



Still, there it is. The old people say that the king they 



have no idea which king — could follow the chase for some 

 forty miles across these hills, through a succession of copses 

 woods, and straggling covers, forming a great forest. To 



