GREAT MIS TOR. 405 



affording the requisite stability. Wide interstices 

 between the blocks are left purposely, that the force 

 of the wind may not act unbroken. What a shrill 

 wail these varying orifices must utter in a high 

 autumnal gale ! The immense size of the blocks, 

 contrasting with those of the ancient walls around, 

 shews the resources of modern art ; for this wall is 

 built by Government. It was this that stirred the 

 wrath of our friend, who protested eloquently against 

 the encroaching policy of the Duchy of Cornwall, 

 robbing, as he averred, the poor moormen of their 

 scanty pasture. At first we could not see the object 

 of the enclosure, but presently a healthy plantation 

 of young firs within the grim fence explained it. 



All before us spreads the wide moor, ever wilder 

 and wilder. Solitary farms smile at distant intervals 

 in the bottoms. One of these, Sherbiton, prettily 

 surrounded with trees, by a brook, specially attracted 

 me. Abundant springs of water occur everywhere ; 

 the moor is evidently a Jamaica, a " land of springs." 

 Far away in the west, we see Princeton and the 

 War Prison, which at one time held ten thousand 

 prisoners. Grim and gaunt, it stands on the naked 

 mountain-side, encircled by its gray granite waUs. 

 On the right of this uninviting object, but much more 

 distant, a magnificent Tor rises against the sky, strik- 

 ing the eye by its noble outline and manifest eleva- 

 tion, pre-eminent above its fellows, and exciting 

 curiosity to know its name. At length a peasant 

 informs us that it is Great Mis Tor. 



