the nineteenth century, and
their flat contradictions of the opinions of their predecessors. A good
instance is given in the new edition of that mine of information, Rowe's
'Perambulation of Dartmoor,' where certain verdicts as to the origin of
Grimspound are quoted. 'Polwhele states that it was a seat of judicature
for the Cantred of Darius; Samuel Rowe, that it was a Belgic or Saxon
camp; Ormerod considered it a cattle-pound pure and simple; Spence Bate
was convinced that it was nothing more than a habitation of tinners, and
of no great age; while now the work of the Rev S. Baring-Gould and Mr
Robert Burnard goes far to show that its construction reaches back into
a remote past, and that its antiquity is greater than any former
investigator dared to assign to it.'

The great numbers of prehistoric people who lived on the moor are very
remarkable. 'Tens of thousands of their habitations have been
destroyed,' says Mr Baring-Gould, 'yet tens of thousands remain. At Post
Bridge, within a radius of half a mile, are fifteen pounds. If we give
an average of twenty huts to a pound, and allow for habitations
scattered about, not enclosed in a pound, and give six persons to a hut,
we have at once a population, within a mile, of 2,000 persons.' Perhaps
they climbed so high because on the lower slopes the forest was thick,
and wild beasts were more to be feared, though, according to tradition,
they were certainly not free from danger on the moor; for 'wolves and
winged serpents were no strangers to the hills or valleys.' All their
possessions that we are aware of belong to the early Bronze Age, when
flint was used in great quantities, and bronze was known, but was rare
and very valuable. The amber pommel of a dagger, inlaid with gold pins,
and part of a bronze dagger blade, were found in a barrow on Hameldon,
and a few other bronze weapons have been discovered; flint implements in
abundance. Great numbers of flint scrapers for cleaning the skins of
animals, and small knives for cutting up meat, have been picked up;
arrow-heads are scarce, and it would seem that they left very few celts
or axes, and spear-heads.

Of the exceedingly interesting remains, perhaps the most interesting--at
any rate, to the uninitiated--is Grimspound. The boundary wall, which is
double, encloses four acres; it is from ten to twelve feet thick, but
not above five and a half feet in height. Within the circle are
twenty-four hut-circles, and in some of th