CHAPTER IV. 



THE FERNY MOORLANDS. 



r I ^HE grandeur of the Devonshire moorland 

 scenery almost defies description. The 

 fern hunter, searching for his favourites amongst 

 the ferny haunts of the "fern paradise," will 

 derive the keenest enjoyment from a ramble 

 on the moors. Away from the town on the 

 mountain side, with the free blue sky overhead, 

 surrounded by wooded steeps which descend 

 swiftly to the valleys below ! Or away in those 

 valleys where the boulder-strewn beds of the 

 rushing moorland streams send forth their wild 

 music to the delighted ear : wandering from hill- 

 side to valley, and from valley to hill-top, drinking 

 in with that inexpressibly acute sense of pleasure 

 which the jaded town dweller can alone experience 



