[582] There are great numbers to be seen from the railway from Ems as far as Nordhausen on the route to Berlin. [583] Thus _Rainbalken_ is the turf balk left unploughed as a boundary. [584] Halliwell. '_Räin_,' a ridge (north). See also _Studies_, by Joseph Lucas, F.G.S., c. viii., where there is an interesting description of the 'Reins' in Nidderdale. These terraces occur in the neighbouring dales of Billsdale, Bransdale, and Furndale; and also in Wharfdale and the valley of the Ribble, &c. [585] Pennant's _Tour in Scotland_, p. 281. 'Observed on the right several very regular terraces cut on the face of a hill. They are most exactly formed, a little raised in the middle like a firm walk, and about 20 feet broad, and of very considerable length. In some places were three, in others five flights, placed one above the other, terminating exactly in a line at each end, and most precisely finished. I am told that such tiers of terraces are not uncommon in these parts, where they are called baulks.' [586] See Pugh's _Welsh Dictionary_: _Balc_, a break in furrow land. _Balcia_, a breaking of furrows. _Balcio_, to break furrows. _Balciog_, having irregular furrows. _Balciwr_, a breaker of furrows. And see _supra_, p. 4. [587] So in the St. Gall charters, quoted above. Thus also Dronke, _Traditiones et Antiq. Fuldenses_, p. 107, 'xx. diurnales hoc est quod tot diebus arari poterit.'--Landau, 45. [588] Varro, _De Re Rustica_, i. 10; and see _Plin. Hist. Nat._ 18. 3. 15. [589] See _supra_, chapter viii. [590] I have found it in use on the coast opposite the Isle of Skye. Several crofters will take a tract of land, divide it first into larger divisions, or 'parks,' and then divide the parks into lots, of which each takes one. [591] I am indebted for this information to Professor Meitzen, who informs me that he doubts whether it was a feature of the old purely German open fields. In undisturbed old German districts the 'Gewanne' and strips are of irregular and arbitrary size, and are not separated by permanent turf 'raine' or balks. [592] Hanssen, p. 198. [593] In the Engadine, in reply to the question what the flat strips between the linches were called, the driver answered, '_acker_.' When it was pointed out that they were _grass_, the reply was, 'Ah! but a hundred years ago they were ploughed.' [594] M. Guérard's Introduction to the _Polyptique d'Irminon_, p. 641. [595] _Id._ p. 641; and Appendix, i. p. 285. The Irish acre is of the same form as the English--4 rods by 40--but the rod is 21 feet. See the _Cartulaire de Redon_ in Brittany, No. cccxxvi. (p. 277), where a church is given to the abbey 'cum sedecim porcionibus terræ quæ lingua eorum "acres" nominantur' (A.D. 1061–1075). In Normandy, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, there were acres of four roods, 'vergées.' _Id._ p. cccxi. Compare also the form of the Welsh erw. [596] Pertz, 278. _Lex Baiuwariorum textus legis primus_, 13.