6 THE ESSEX FOXHOUNDS. 



convenient site ; but it has the advantage of railway com- 

 munication, through Stortford, with the north country. 



Amonsfst strangfers to Esse.x it is a common behef that 

 the whole of the county is a dead level. As a matter of 

 fact, however, all the Essex Hunt country is of a more or 

 less undulating character, while some portions of it are 

 positively hilly ; when the late Mr. W. H. Mackenzie 

 ran the Rocket Coach from London to Colchester, 

 nothing surprised his passengers more than the give-and- 

 take nature of the road. 



The little River Rodin^, risingr not far from Easton 

 Park, flows southward with many turns through the entire 

 length of the country. Though a mean-looking stream, it 

 gains the respect of the foxhunter by its unjumpable 

 character (perhaps it has never been successfully challenged 

 save by the late Mr. Sheffield Neave), and by its association 

 with the Rodings, or Roothings — the most celebrated area 

 of the Essex Hunt. 



The country does not, perhaps, give much opportunity 

 for water-jumping. There are, however, several small 

 streams whose rotten banks and soft beds have brousht 



o 



grief to many incautious riders. Amongst these obstacles 

 are the Easter and Roxwell brooks, which unite and 

 fall into the Chelmer; the Pincey, or Down Hall brook, 



