Downs 



noticing an odd-looking scarecrow in a field. They 

 went to it, and found it was a man, dead, and still 

 standing as he had stiffened in the snow, the clothes 

 hanging on his withered body, and the eyes gone 

 from the sockets, picked out by the crows. It is 

 only one of many similar accounts, and it is thought 

 between twenty and thirty unfortunate persons per- 

 ished. Such miserable events are of rare occurrence, 

 but show how open, wild, and succourless the country 

 still remains. In ordinary winters it is only strangers 

 who need be cautious, and strangers seldom appear. 

 Even in summer time, however, a stranger, if he stays 

 till dusk, may easily wander for hours. Once off the 

 highway, all the ridges and slopes seem alike, and 

 there is no end to them. 



175 



