Hunting Lore 283 



fox-hounds proved unable to cope ; as witness entries 

 like: "found both a Bear and a Fox, but got neith- 

 er"; "went a hunting . . . started a Deer & then 

 a Fox but got neither"; and "Went a hunting 

 and after trailing a fox a good while the Dogs 

 raized a Deer & ran out of the Neck with it & did 

 not some of them at least come home till the next 

 day." If it was a small animal, however, it was soon 

 accounted for. "Went a Hunting . . . catched 

 a Rakoon but never found a fox." 



The woods were so dense and continuous that it 

 was often impossible for the riders to keep close to 

 the hounds throughout the run; though in one or 

 two of the best covers, as the journal records, Wash- 

 ington "directed paths to be cut for Fox Hunting." 

 This thickness of the timber made it difficult to keep 

 the hounds always under control ; and there are fre- 

 quent allusions to their going off on their own ac- 

 count, as "Joined some dogs that were self hunt- 

 ing." Sometimes the hounds got so far away that 

 it was impossible to tell whether they had killed or 

 not, the journal remarking "catched nothing that 

 we knew of," or "found a fox at the head of the 

 blind Pocoson which we suppose was killed in an 

 hour but could not find it." 



Another result of this density and continuity of 

 cover was the frequent recurrence of days of ill 

 success. There are many such entries as: "Went 



