4-2 The Natural History of Selborne 



time, a wild buJl or buffalo ; but the country rose upon them and 

 destroyed them. 



A very large fall of timber, consisting of about one thousand 

 oaks, has been cut this spring (viz., 1784) in the Holt forest : one 

 fifth of which, it is said, belongs to the grantee, Lord Stawell. He 

 lays claim also to the lop and top ; but the poor of the parishes of 

 Binsted and Frinsham [Frensham], Bentley and Kingsley, assert that 

 it belongs to them, and assembling in a riotous manner, have actually 

 taken it all away. One man, who keeps a team, has carried home 

 for his share forty sacks of wood. Forty-five of these people his 

 lordship has served with actions. These trees, which were very 

 sound and in high perfection, were winter-cut, viz., in February and 

 March, before the bark would run. In old times the Holt was 

 estimated to be eighteen miles, computed measure from water- 

 carriage, viz., from the town of Chertsey, on the Thames ; but now 

 it is not half that distance, since the Wey is made navigable up to 

 the town of Godalming in the county of Surrey. 



