RED DEER LAND. 7 



George's Channel, so that the eye sees across 

 the entire breadth of England there. 



The consequence of these great distances 

 is that all minor distances are shrunken, 

 and five miles looks nothing, The illusion is 

 assisted by the smooth outline of the moors 

 without a fence for miles together, and without 

 a visible tree, for the covers are in the coombes, 

 and there are few or no copses on the hills, 

 as in the South Downs. Nothing whatever 

 breaks up the surface and measures the view. 

 Heather covers the largest part of the ground, 

 which is never ploughed or sown, and where 

 there are no flower-grown meads. One 

 vast breadth of open, wild, and treeless 

 country reaches in every direction, and it 

 is at once obvious why the deer have re- 

 mained at large since the most ancient times, 

 for the land is in the same condition as 

 it w r as centuries ago. The plough has not 

 touched it, and civilisation has not come 

 near. 



This day may be in the reign of 



