RED DEER LAND. 9 



is very hot there are occasional intervals of 

 cold. Sometimes when vapour is sweeping 

 over from the Severn Sea it is accompanied 

 by a wind which chills to the marrow. In 

 1SS2 there was quite a crust of frost on the 

 morning of June 21. When the sun shines 

 the fierce rays pour down on the heather and 

 dry it till it is hard and wiry, so hard as to 

 wear out the stoutest boots quickly. In- 

 numerable bees gather to the heather-bells, 

 it is a question where they all come from ; 

 they must travel long distances to the feast 

 of honey. The whortleberries ripen, and 

 women and children go out to pick them. 

 It is their harvest of the year, tons and tons — 

 whole truck loads — are sent away by railroad. 

 Bain and fog alternate for most of the winter, 

 together with intense cold. Against this 

 bitter cold large quantities of turf are laid 

 in, and the fires on the hearths banked up 

 in glowing piles. 



The thickness of the fogs often prevents 



