62 By Stream and Sea. 



safely through the close thoroughfares, and get the leaders 

 in sober trim. When a long hill invites him to slacken 

 rein he tells you the life and adventures of all his " harses." 

 Not very romantic are those equine histories, except that of 

 the near leader " a sort of a kind of a silver-tailed roan," 

 as Jehu describes him, and who is blessed or cursed with 

 such an insatiable appetite for chaff that the stable-keepers, 

 in fine irony, impose upon 'him the task of working the chaff- 

 cutting machine for the benefit of the general stable. 



We must be careful in descending these steep, winding 

 hills ; five-and-twenty persons who, by their purchase of 

 British Association tickets, are fairly entitled to rank 

 amongst the wise of the earth, are too precious a cargo to be 

 spilled in the ditch like water. So we apply drag-shoe as 

 well as brake, and pick our way at a gingerly walk down 

 the white hills which the Wells mail-coaches of the good 

 old times used to clear at full tilt. The sportsmen are 

 abroad, as we may hear by the frequent breech-loader in 

 the stubble. Here is a country squire quizzing us from 

 behind the hedge, gun *over shoulder and setters by his 

 side ; there comes a gang of nutbrown labourers, sickle in 

 hand, and gaping open-mouthed at the philosophers until 

 the last consignment has rolled by in a cloud of dust. The 

 business of every village is temporarily paralyzed during 

 our passage. 



Never mind ; a balance is struck. The rustics admire us, 

 and we are charmed with their thatched cottages, the purple 

 plums, golden apples, green walnuts, blooming hollyhocks, 

 sunflowers and fuchsias, drooping vines, and homely beehives 

 of their gardens. 



And what does not a country drive owe to the hedge- 

 rows? We are a somewhat miscellanous party, but we 

 all sing its praises ; all, save the worthy geologist who finds 



