474 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



hospitality in former days had a world-wide 

 reputation. The house is now falling to decay, 

 the fountains are choked up, and the garden has 

 become a jungle of exotic plants. Here I found 

 a fuchsia more than twenty feet in height, the bloom 

 of which was larger than any species I had 

 hitherto seen, and it had evidently been grafted, 

 as branches covered with flowers of various colours 

 were growing out of the same stems. 



Just below the house was a bright purling 

 rivulet, where we found a capital place for bathing. 



During the day, both vessels made some capital 

 practice with heavy guns and small arms, and 

 although I held my own with the rifle against the 

 field, I found myself most ignominiously beaten 

 by Beamish, when it came to long-range artillery 

 practice. He made some splendid shots at 2000 

 yards range, and we had great fun, battering away 

 at a mark upon the face of a scarped rock close to 

 the water's edge. In the evening I went ashore to 

 shoot a half- wild bullock, which, after some little 

 stalking, I killed with a bullet behind the 

 shoulder. 



