The instances in which the termination-_ham_ must be thus referred to the Celtic (as a Saxon corruption of the word _Afon_) are well marked and are by no means rare, and it is possible that some of those which have been regarded as examples of hăm, an enclosure, may be found to belong rather to the Celtic derivation from Afon. As an illustration of _ham_ in the latter aspect, I will at once refer to the class of examples of the word which is furnished by those large tracts of country which are or formerly were liable to inundation from the occasional overflow of some adjacent river (afon), and which have accordingly received the appellation of “hams”--that is, rich low-lying lands in the vicinity of rivers. These extensive tracts of marsh-land cannot be supposed, especially at the very early period when the name of _ham_ was imposed upon them, to have represented “an enclosure,” whilst their general character, and their liability to be frequently flooded, alike forbid the notion that the name of ham in this case was originally associated with a “home or dwelling.” Each of these “hams,” then, I apprehend must be held to furnish a marked example of the derivation of its name from the Celtic Avon, as it will be found that the distinctive feature of _a river_ is present in each of them, and in one case the river even still retains the original Celtic name of _Avon_. As examples of some instances of the name occurring on the banks of the rivers in Somerset, we have the Loxton _Hams_, the Berrow _Hams_, the Paulet _Hams_ with Otter_ham_pton, which latter name, assuming its derivation to be Teutonic, should be the “_Otter’s home-town_”! Biddis_ham_, Burn_ham_, and Lymps_ham_, the latter being the ancient Lyn-pils-ham, the rich pasture land by the creek of the Lyn or the River Axe, with many others. Passing now into Devonshire we come upon the North _Hams_, and the South _Hams_--names which in this case cannot be held to represent either homes or enclosures, whilst _water_ or _rivers_ will be found to be conspicuously present in both instances. In his review of “Risdon’s Survey of Devon,” 1785, Chapple refers to the North and South Hams as being “ancient names,” and states that the county of Devon had originally a _threefold_ division, anciently known by the names of _East_, _South_, and _North Hams_ (p. 116). This, however, is the only notice I have seen of the _East Hams_. As one of the places comprehended in the district of the _North Hams_, we have Little_ham_, which Risdon regards as “Little Home,” assuming-_ham_ in this case “to signify the same with home or habitation.”