THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 
30 
been examined with that purpose. A wattled village would leave 
no structural relics; but where the agger is of stone, the stone 
foundations of dwellings are almost invariably seen. Still even 
in some simple enclosures the evidence of general and continued 
occupation is clear and certain. In the " camp " at High Peak, 
near Sidmouth, Mr. P. 0. Hutchinson found deposits of charcoal, 
bones, pottery, and other industrial products; 1 marking it off 
distinctly from the cliff castles of Cornwall — headlands made 
defensible as strongholds against marauders from the sea. Prob- 
ably the remarkable deposit of shells on the hills above Teign- 
mouth, described by Mr. Pengelly, 2 was associated with a 
settlement of this kind that has left no other trace. 
Another important fact in this connection is the existence of 
defensive earthworks quite independent of the camps. We have 
no such gigantic work as the Wansdyke ; but there are earthen 
lines near Colyford, evidently intended for defensive purposes, and 
forming no part of a "camp," 3 which will illustrate the distinction. 
So in the adjoining county of Cornwall we have the fine rampart 
accounted for in the tradition of the country-side by the rhyme — 
"Jack the Giant had nothing to do, 
So he built a hedge from Lerrin to Looe." 
Mr. King is in all probability right in regarding this as having 
been " thrown up by some body of men arriving from the sea, and 
settling among those of a different race. 4 
One of the most difficult questions of our Western Archaeology is 
that of the age and origin of our Bronze Period. It is seen almost 
from the very first in somewhat settled form, and we can trace it 
downwards until it merges into historic civilization ; but its connec- 
tion with the Stone Period is to all appearance hopelessly obscured. 
We are not, however, without evidence of vast antiquity. This 
Western Peninsula supplied most — if not the whole — of the tin for 
the bronze users of Europe, save possibly, but by no means certainly, 
upon Asiatic confines. The tin mining of Cornwall, if not of 
Devon, dates back therefore to the introduction of the use of 
metals on the Continent. And when we seek to assign to this 
1 Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. ii. p. 649. 2 Ibid, vol. i. pt. iv. pp. 50-6. 
3 P. 0. Hutchinson. "Antiquities in South Eastern Devon." — Trans. 
Devon. Assoc. vol. ii. pp. 379-381. 
4 " Presidential Address." — Trans. Devon. Assoc. vol. vii. p. 31. 
c 2 
