raised to cover the
prehistoric dead. But many have disappeared. Some have been worn down
by ploughing, as on the Berkshire Downs. Others have been dug into for
gravel. The making of golf-links has disturbed several, as at
Sunningdale, where several barrows were destroyed in order to make a
good golf-course. Happily their contents were carefully guarded, and
are preserved in the British Museum and in that of Reading. Earthworks
and camps still guard the British ancient roads and trackways, and
you still admire their triple vallum and their cleverly protected
entrance. Happily the Earthworks Committee of the Congress of
Archaeological Societies watches over them, and strives to protect them
from injury. Pit-dwellings and the so-called "ancient British
villages" are in many instances sorely neglected, and are often buried
beneath masses of destructive briers and ferns. We can still trace the
course of several of the great tribal boundaries of prehistoric times,
the Grim's dykes that are seen in various parts of the country,
gigantic earthworks that so surprised the Saxon invaders that they
attributed them to the agency of the Devil or Grim. Here and there
much has vanished, but stretches remain with a high bank twelve or
fourteen feet high and a ditch; the labour of making these earthen
ramparts must have been immense in the days when the builders of them
had only picks made out of stag's horns and such simple tools to work
with.

Along some of our hillsides are curious turf-cut monuments, which
always attract our gaze and make us wonder who first cut out these
figures on the face of the chalk hill. There is the great White Horse
on the Berkshire Downs above Uffington, which we like to think was cut
out by Alfred's men after his victory over the Danes on the Ashdown
Hills. We are told, however, that that cannot be, and that it must
have been made at least a thousand years before King Alfred's glorious
reign. Some of these monuments are in danger of disappearing. They
need scouring pretty constantly, as the weeds and grass will grow over
the face of the bare chalk and tend to obliterate the figures. The
Berkshire White Horse wanted grooming badly a short time ago, and the
present writer was urged to approach the noble owner, the Earl of
Craven, and urge the necessity of a scouring. The Earl, however,
needed no reminder, and the White Horse is now thoroughly groomed, and
looks as fit and active as ever. Other steeds on ou