352 A Winter in Cornwall. [Sess. 
not pay, vegetables might ; and now that the mining industry 
is at so low an ebb, it does seem strange that large tracts 
are permitted to lie dormant. 
As a contrast to the foregoing, there is one feature about 
Cornwall which compares favourably with our methods at 
home. I refer to the facilities offered to pedestrians for 
roaming across country. Footpaths over fields are numerous, 
granite crossing-stiles are provided to pass from field to 
field and from farm to farm, and it is no exaggeration to 
say that around Penzance alone miles and miles of delightful 
walking can be done through fields, with only an occasional 
crossing of a high-road. Compare this with the state of 
matters in Scotland. Let any one be rash enough to move 
off the beaten track in order to take a short cut across a 
field or meadow: if observed, he is subjected to vituperation 
of an offensive kind by some irate agriculturist or his 
myrmidons, and the trespasser may consider himself lucky 
if he regains the turnpike without having the impress of 
a collie-dog’s teeth on the calf of his leg. A _ stringent 
law of trespass exists in England; that in Scotland is 
practically nil: why, therefore, the freedom in the former 
country, and the restriction in the latter? The reason is 
obvious: numerous opportunities are given in England 
for people to walk wid bypaths away from the highways, 
therefore there is no inducement to trespass: in Scotland, 
few of these facilities exist, and, being deprived of the 
privilege, people are more apt to wander where they should 
not. You all know the old Scottish saying, “It’s an ill 
bird that files its ain nest,’ and personally, I should not 
like to incur the odium of slandering my own countrymen, 
but a love for truth compels me to say that English people, 
as a rule, are not nearly so destructive of trees, plants, and 
property generally, as the baser sorts of Scotsmen are,— 
hence the reluctance of landowners to throw open their 
grounds to the public in this our native land. As this 
subject, however, is somewhat controversial, it need not be 
enlarged upon. 
Cornwall’s finest feature is its rocky coasts. These are 
very rugged, and although the cliffs do not attain to anything 
like the height of the Caithness or Sutherlandshire headlands, 
ee e 
