476 Notes on Sport and Travel ix 



' Heinrich I in Gottes navien was der henker 

 macJien sie so tang im keller ? ' 



As vulgar little boys say, ' we caught it,' and 

 possibly we deserved to ' catch it ' ; but ever since 

 that memorable afternoon I have felt perfectly 

 convinced that the fungi developed and nourished 

 by the alcoholic exhalations of numerous wine-casks 

 generate miasmata, producing the most disturbing 

 and deleterious effects on the human cerebrum. 

 Let the sanitary reformer look to it ! 



So, all things considered, we were not very 

 cheerful at first ; but when the mist got higher 

 and the day got brighter, and particularly after we 

 left the first little dor/, we felt quite lively. 



And pray in what manner did the first little 

 do7'/ contribute so much to the re-establishment of 

 your wonted joviality, gentlemen sportsmen ? 



Never you mind, gentle reader ; but whatever 

 it was, we felt much better after it, and trudged up 

 the deep shaly road like giants refreshed, though 

 our spirits were sadly damped now and then by 

 the horrible smell of the rotting potato -patches 

 about the village. Up a little higher, and out we 

 came on to the flat table-land, spreading out before 

 us for miles, parched and arid ; dotted here and 

 there with little groups of poverty-stricken wood 

 and mud hovels, huddling closely together, shoulder 

 to shoulder, half supported, and perhaps more than 

 half warmed, by the mighty heap of manure piled 

 round them ; seemingly within ten minutes' walk. 



