S6 Ha7'k Away. 



from, I believe, the kennel of Lord Portman, struck 

 me as a fine specimen ; Albert, from the Blackmoor 

 Vale, being another fine-looking animal ; as was 

 also Shiner, from the pack of staghounds the pro- 

 perty of Mr. Richardson Gardner, who hunts in the 

 vicinity of Cheltenham. Altogether Mr. Bissett is to 

 be congratulated on having secured such a number 

 of recruits, which in time will prove equal to the 

 demands which hunting the wild stag over this 

 severe but beautiful country makes on the pack, if 

 they would pull down these noble deer, who not 

 unfrequently lead them a dance over hill and dale, 

 moorland and meadow, for three or five hours, as 

 the case may be. 



On Friday the fixture w^as Hawkcombe Head, the 

 most lovely spot in this most lovely locality. Over- 

 looking the Bristol Channel is Bossington Beacon, 

 801 feet above the level of the sea, a landmark to 

 vessels passing. It was over the range of hills on 

 the summit of which this beacon is placed that I 

 on another occasion galloped, which will give an 

 idea of the country hunted by the Devon and 

 Somerset Staghounds. Hunting the wild red deer 

 is no child's play, but it is an amusement requiring 

 both pluck and judgment on the part of those who 

 ride up and down these noble heather-clad hill when 

 chasing the stag over the large tracts of moorlands, 

 which at this period of the year look grand and 

 beautiful in the extreme, recalling the words written 

 by Kingsley, who described the appearance of the 

 country as resembling " huge mile-long waves of 

 a vast heather sea." Beautiful as the heather looks, 

 it sometimes allures the venturous horsemen, if not 



