LETTER XVI. 175 



and it was to this that I was entered at dawn 

 next morning. If you observe carefully, you will 

 find that your true American hates exercise, 

 hence the popularity of hounding and duck-shoot- 

 ing. You would not find him enthusiastic about 

 deer-stalking or partridge-shooting on our Mont- 

 gomeryshire hills in November. 



There are three things necessary for hounding : 

 guides who know the deer-runs, and the places at 

 which they generally take to the water ; hounds 

 who will stick to their quarry all day long if 

 necessary, and deer. We had both the first 

 requisites, excellent guides and good hounds ; but 

 I don't think deer were abundant. As soon as 

 the sun was up, we followed our guides into the 

 timber. Where the big trees still stood the 

 going was good enough, but where the lumberers 

 had felled the big timber, the brush was so thick 

 as to make progress both difficult and painful. 

 Two guides came with the guns to post them, 

 and one (the tracker) took the hounds away in 

 another direction. One of us was posted by a 

 river, another on a run by the river, and a third 

 in a boat on a lake. Our instructions were to 

 stand or sit, and even smoke if we chose ; but on 

 no account to change our positions whilst the 

 deer was afoot. I vow that I carried out the 

 guide's instructions to the letter, for a bird mis- 



