The valleys of the Downs differ very much according to whether they are upon the south or upon the north of the range. Those to the south are valleys of erosion, shallow, broad, and funnel-shaped, with their wide mouths opening towards the sea and the south-west wind. They are usually called _Stenes_,--a word which is sometimes spelt “_Steine_,”--the best known of which hollows is the valley running through Brighton. There are any number between that point and Goodwood. In their lower parts they support farmhouses, and occasionally they carry one of the great roads which cross the Downs from the north. They are wind-swept, and hold the snow very late; but in summer they are among the most sheltered corners of South England. Upon the north the steep escarpment of the hills forbids any such conformation. Here the valleys take the shape of very steep hollows of a horseshoe outline known as _combes_, a Celtic word, and frequently hung with deep woods which are known both here and in Kent (and in other parts of the south country) as _hangers_. The most sombre and the most silent of these are perhaps those of Burton, Lavington, and Bury. The woods upon the slopes, the foot-hills, and the summits are of a different order. Those upon the actual crests are commonly artificial, and are known as “clumps” or “rings.” The Dukes of Richmond have planted a few such near Goodwood, but the most famous is the great landmark of Chanctonbury Ring, above Wiston, which is a resting-point for the eye not only up and down forty miles of the Channel, but also up and down forty miles of the opposing northern range. The woods of the foot-hills and of the slopes are, on the [Illustration: NEAR COATES] [Sidenote: DEW PANS] contrary, primeval--as can be proved from the absence beneath them of Roman or prehistoric remains.