SCENERY OF SALISBURY PLAIN. 139 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SALISBURY PLAIN. STRANGE DESERT CHARACTER OF THE SCENERY. THE 



AGRICULTURE. SAINFOIN AND LUCERNE. LARGE FARMS. EFFECT ON 



LABOURERS. PARING AND BURNING. WHEN EXPEDIENT. EXPENSE. 



SHEEP-FOLDING. HOVEABLE RAILWAYS AND SHEDS. 



June 11th. 



&quot; STANDING across the downs : course E. by N., muggy 

 M weather and light airs,&quot; regularly at sea, without chart 

 or compass. A strange, weary waste of elevated land, undu 

 lating like a prairie, sparsely greened over its gray surfaces 

 with short grass, uninhabited and treeless ; only, at some 

 miles asunder, broken by charming vales of rich meadows and 

 clusters of farm-houses and shepherds cottages, darkly bow- 

 ered about with the concentrated foliage of the whole country. 



For long intervals we were entirely out of sight of tree or 

 house or man, or even sign of man, more than an indistinct 

 cart-track or trail. Had you any idea there was such a desert 

 in England ? 



The trails run crookedly, divide and cross frequently, and 

 only rarely is there a rude guide-post. Twice or thrice we 

 were as completely lost as Oregon emigrants might be in the 

 wilderness, and walked for miles with only the dim, yellowish 

 spot that stood for the sun in the misty firmament, to be 

 guided by. Large flocks, with shepherds and dogs, we some 

 times saw, and here and there a square clump of beech or 

 fir trees, intended probably as an occasional retreat for the 



