so EPPING FOREST. 



to Staple's Pond ; here turn to the right along the 

 road for 200 yards. By the pound ascend the 

 grass slope on the left to a group of fir-trees at the 

 top. From here a lane leads along the crest of 

 Baldwiiis Hill for half a mile, and commands an 

 extensive view of the densely wooded Loughton 

 Manor. This would be still more interesting if it 

 were not for the reckless and unsparing pollarding 

 to which nearly the whole of this otherwise beauti- 

 ful wood has been subjected, and which gives it 

 the effect of having been mown with a scythe. It 

 will require many years of careful attention to the 

 most promising pollards, which are here extraordi- 

 narily numerous, before it resumes its natural 

 aspect. Monk Wood, which has not been so mal- 

 treated, is a conspicuous object. Its billowing 

 mass of tall trees rises like an island above the 

 rest. Some sections of the slope of Baldwin's 

 Hill, in the immediate foreground, were cleared of 

 trees a few years ago, with a view to enclosure. A 

 marked effect of this denudation is seen at one 

 spot near the end of the ridge. The whole 

 hillside, which is composed of viscous clay, no 

 longer supported by the roots of trees, has com- 

 menced to slip down towards the stream below, 

 producing cracks and fissures and other features 

 in close imitation of an ice stream in the Alps. 

 By Goldi/ig's Hill Ponds turn to the left along the 

 Loughton and Epping roads, passing Monk Wood 

 on the left. At the Wake Arms six roads con- 

 verge. The one we have traversed leads from 

 Loughton ; the next in order, on the left, from 

 Woodford and London ; the third from High 

 Beach ; the fourth from Waltham Abbey ; the fifth 

 from Epping ; and the sixth from Theydon. Fol- 



