14 RED DEER. 



Exmoor has not altered one iota. The vast 

 moors have simply swallowed up the efforts 

 of man to conquer them. The details of 

 this experiment explain why Exmoor re- 

 mains mediaeval. It resists the perpetual 

 nibbling which £oes on around the inhabited 

 places. 



The villages and towns arc far apart, the 

 towns are only so called as having markets, 

 and are no larger than the villages in corn 

 counties. These Exmoor villages are usually 

 situated at the bottom of deep coombes, those 

 coombes in which flow the largest streams, 

 as the Barle and Exe. For instance, Exford, 

 which is the very centre of Red Deer Land, 

 and has been chosen for the kennels of the 

 staghounds, is on the banks of the Exe in a 

 deep hollow. It is absolutely isolated. 

 There is a well-conducted hotel, the White 

 Horse, where huntsmen and trout-fishers 

 find accommodation, but it is ten miles to 

 the nearest station, and there is no tele- 

 graph. The hamlet street is level for a little 



