RED DEER LAND. 5 



The moors of the Exe river are not flat 

 stretches of marshland, but hills of great 

 height covered with heather. The term 

 mountains may almost be applied to them — 

 numbers of the ridges are twice the height 

 of Beachy Head or the Dyke at Brighton — 

 Dunkery Beacon is three times as high. But 

 the conformation of the country is such that 

 on entering it the elevations do not seem 

 very unusual, for as it is all high and raised 

 the eye has nothing with which to contrast 

 it. When on the moor it appears an immense 

 table-land, intersected by deep narrow valleys, 

 called coombes, at the bottom of which a 

 stream always flows. At some distance 

 apart are ranges of hills rising gradually 

 and with gentle slopes above the general 

 level of the moor. The curves appear so 

 moderate and the ascent so easy that there 

 can be no difficulty in walking or riding 

 over them. Dunkery itself is nothing more 

 than an undulation, scarcely to be separated 

 at some points of view from the common 



