According to Beda[166] the Isle of Wight contained 1200 hides or families: now the island contains 86,810 acres, which would give 72⅓ acres per hide. But only 75,000 acres are under cultivation now, and this would reduce our quotient to 62·5 acres. On the hypothesis that in such a spot as the Isle of Wight (in great portions of which vegetation is not abundant) our Saxon forefathers had half as much under cultivation as we now have, we should obtain a quotient of about thirty-one acres to the hide, leaving 49,610 acres of pasture, waste, etc.: the ratio between the cultivated and uncultivated land, being about 37:49, is much too near equality for the general ratio of England, but may be accounted for by the peculiar circumstances of the island. ----- Footnote 166: Hist. Eccl. iv. 16. ----- Again, Beda estimates Thanet at 600 hides[167]. Now Thanet, at this day, contains 23,000 acres of arable land, and 3500 of marsh and pastures. The latter must have been far more extensive in the time of Beda, for in the first place there must have been some land on the side of Surrey and Sussex reserved as Mark, and we know that drainage and natural causes have reclaimed considerable tracts in that part of Kent[168]; nor is it reasonable to suppose that our forefathers ploughed up as much land as we do. Yet even 23,000 acres will give us only 38⅓ acres to the hide; and I do not think we shall be venturing too much in placing the 3200, 3800 or 5000 acres by which 23,000 respectively exceed 19,800, 19,200 and 18,000, to the account of pastures and commons. Seven or eight thousand acres of common land would bear in fact so unusually small a proportion to the quantity under crop, that we should be disposed to suspect the islanders of having been less wealthy than many of their neighbours, unless we give them credit for having sacrificed bread crops to the far more remunerative pasturage of cattle[169]. ----- Footnote 167: Hist. Eccl. i. 25. Footnote 168: The river Wantsum alone was three stadia wide, about a third of a mile, and was passable at two points only. Bed. Hist. Eccl. i. 25. Footnote 169: The great fertility of Thanet is noticed by the ancients. Solinus (cap. xxii.) calls it “frumentariis campis felix et gleba uberi.” But corn is of no value without a market; and unless London or the adjacent parts of the continent supplied one, I must still imagine that the islanders did not keep so great an amount in arable. It is true that at very early periods a good deal of corn was habitually exported from Britain: “annona a Britannis sueta transferri.” Ammian. Hist. xviii. 2. ----- The whole acreage of Kent is 972,240 acres. What amount of this must be deducted for waste, rivers, roads and towns I cannot say, but some deduction is necessary. Now Kent numbered 15,000 hides: this gives a quotient of 64 to 65 acres per hide; and at the least, one half of this may fairly be taken off for marsh, pasture and the weald of Andred.