WILD SPORT IN BRITTANY. 85 



are supposed to be repaired by the several Communes through 

 which they pass ; never, however, do I remember seeing a 

 peasant at work on them ; so that as a rule, in winter, they 

 have ruts axle-deep, no metal on their surface, and sloughs 

 or spews everywhere. In fact, many of them, if supplied with 

 seed and manure, would grow as good a crop of potatoes as 

 the adjoining fields. I have been in far greater peril riding 

 sure-footed horses through the mire and spews of these lanes 

 by night than in the wildest fox-chase I ever joined ; and when 

 I say that, let me add how frequently it has been my happy lot 

 to see some glorious days over Dartmoor with Mr. Trelawny's 

 hounds, and not a few with Mr. Russell over Exmoor, not less 

 the region of bog, rugged ground, and wild foxes, than its sister 

 forest on the southern coast. But even Diamond Lane on 

 Dartmoor, paved as it is by nature with blocks of granite 

 scattered broadcast on its surface, and some of them far bigger 

 than bishop's heads, is safe-going nay, is a fair coach-road 

 compared with many of those parish tunnels in Lower 

 Brittany. 



Before twelve o'clock our team, the leader of which had 

 maintained a continuous short canter throughout almost the 

 whole distance, pulled up at the Lion d'Or, the small inn that 

 welcomed us on arriving at Huelgoet. The landlord was the 

 first to rush to the door, and instantly recognising St. Prix, the 

 Louvetier, and, by virtue of that office, the public benefactor 

 of his country, it is scarcely possible to overstate the amount of 

 attention he paid him and us during our short stay at his 

 hostelry. The man had been a miner himself, and avowed his 

 intention of accompanying us to the mine, and showing us all 

 that was worth seeing within its subterranean precincts. So, 

 starting at once for the works, a distance of more than a mile, 

 we traversed a wild, picturesque gorge, through which a strong 

 mountain stream, unseen by the eye, but very perceptible to 



