350 A Winter in Cornwall, [Sess, 
as the highest elevation is not much above that of Arthur’s 
Seat. In some parts there is a continuous succession of 
these rising grounds, and as the engineering of many of 
the roads leaves much to be desired, rising and falling as 
they do most abruptly, the impression is formed that 
Cornwall is a much hillier district than it really is. Men- 
tion having just been made of roads, it is safe to say—leaving 
out of the question the main highways—that narrower 
means of communication could not be found in Great Britain. 
Around the neighbourhood of Fowey, on the south coast, 
this was notably the case, most of the farm-roads being so 
confined within high hedges as to make it almost impossible 
to avoid running into a wandering horse or cow, much less 
of admitting two vehicles to cross each other. A feature 
of Cornwall is the tall hedgerows. These are not the least 
like ours at home. The bases are composed of high earthen 
and stone mounds combined, and on the sides of these 
mounds hart’s-tongue ferns and a great variety of low- 
growing plants flourish luxuriantly, even in winter. On 
the top, again, of these roughly made erections stunted 
hazel bushes, brambles, &c., grow to a considerable height, 
shutting out the view on either side, so that when the 
track runs level you walk in a tunnel minus the roof. 
Where the stone-work of these mounds is bared, a curious 
style of building is revealed: For a time the rough blocks 
are laid horizontally, then perpendicularly, and often at an 
angle, this arrangement seeming to a certain extent to depend 
upon the size of the stones, those lying flat being, as a rule, 
larger than the others. 
Some districts are well, even richly, wooded, notably 
Bodmin Road and its vicinity, Fowey, Falmouth, and Pen- 
zance; but a great portion of the county is bare and tree- 
less, particularly in the Land’s End and St Just direction, 
as well as about Newquay and most places on the north 
coast. In the parts sheltered from the fierce sea-winds, 
flowers and plants grow in profusion. In spring the woods 
are a mass of daffodils, lilies, and suchlike; and even in 
February in not a few protected areas could be noticed 
flower-buds ready to burst open, while wallflower was in 
full blow. Subtropical plants and palms grow in the open 
