CHAPTER XIV. 



THE WILD PONIES OF EXMOOR. 



IN England there are so few wild horses, that the fol- 

 lowing description of a visit I made to Exmoor a 

 few years ago in the month of September, may be 

 doubly interesting, since Mr. Earey has shown a short 

 and easy method of dealing with the principal produce 

 of that truly wild region. 



The road from South Molton to Exmoor is a gradual 

 ascent over a succession of hills, of which each descent, 

 however steep, leads to a still longer ascent, until you 

 reach the high level of Exmoor. The first six miles 

 are through real Devonshire lanes ; on each side high 

 banks, all covered with fern and grass, and topped with 

 shrubs and trees ; for miles we were hedged in with 

 hazels, bearing nuts with a luxuriance wonderful to the 

 eyes of those accustomed to see them sold at the corners 

 of streets for a penny the dozen. In spring and sum- 

 mer, wild flowers give all the charms of colour to these 

 game-preserving hedgerows ; but a rainy autumn had 

 left no colour among the rich green foliage, except here 

 and there a pyramid of the bright red berries of the 

 mountain ash. 



So, up hill and down dale, over water-courses now 

 merrily trotting, anon descending, and not less merrily 



