of Cattle. 19 



Once upon a time, passing on foot for a distance 

 of some twenty-five miles across these hills and 

 grassy uplands, I could not help comparing the scene 

 to what travellers tell us of desert lands and foreign 

 famines. The whole of that long summer's day, as 

 I hastened southwards, eager for the beach and the 

 scent of the sea, I passed flocks of dying sheep : in 

 the hollows by the way their skeletons were here and 

 there to be seen, the gaunt ribs protruding upwards 

 in the horrible manner that the ribs of dead creatures 

 do. Crowds of flies buzzed in the air. Upon the 

 hurdles perched the crow, bold with over-feasting, 

 and hardly turning to look at me, waiting there till 

 the next lamb should fall and the ' spirit of the beast 

 go downwards.' Happy England, that experiences 

 these things so seldom, and even then so locally that 

 barely one in ten hears of or sees them ! 



The cattle of course suffer too ; all day long files 

 of water-carts go down into the hollows where the 

 springs burst forth, and at such times half the work 

 of the farm consists in fetching the precious liquid 

 perhaps a mile or more. Even in ordinary summers 

 there is often a difficulty of this kind ; and there are 

 some farmhouses whose water for household uses 

 has to be brought fully half a mile. Of recent years 

 more wells have been sunk, but there are still too few 

 for the purpose. The effect of water in determining 

 the settlements of human beings is clearly shown 

 here. You may walk mile after mile on the ridges 

 and pass nothing but a shed ; the houses are in the 

 hollows, the ' coombes ' or ' bottoms,' as they are called, 

 where the springs run. The villages on the downs are 

 generally on a ' bourne,' or winter watercourse. 



