It may be safely assumed that, two thousand years ago,before Caesar set foot in southern Britain, the whole countryside visible fromthe windows of the room in which I write, was in what is called "the stateof nature." Except, it may be, by raising a few sepulchral mounds, such asthose which still, here and there, break the flowing contours of the downs, man'shands had made no mark upon it; and the thin veil of vegetation whichoverspread the broad-backed heights and the shelving sides of the coombs wasunaffected by his industry.
