162 ON THE GRAMPIAN HILLS. 



and will go the pace up and down the steep hills in 

 the vicinity of Lewes and the surrounding country in 

 their accustomed fine form. 



It will be seen by the foregoing account of some of 

 the most celebrated packs that the prospects of sport 

 are decidedly good, always supposing the weather to 

 prove favourable during the ensuing winter. Last 

 year hunting was sadly curtailed by the protracted 

 frost and snow. The country is likely to ride very 

 heavy unless we have some drying winds at the close 

 of this month. The excessive rains have so thoroughly 

 saturated the land that I found, when riding across 

 Exmoor with the Devon and Somerset Staghounds a 

 short while since, it was one vast bog throughout the 

 whole wide district of wild heather-clothed moorland. 

 These hounds, by-the-way, have had grand sport, 

 killing many very heavy stags, after tremendously 

 long runs across the beautiful districts of Devon and 

 Somerset, where the wild red-deer are still to be found 

 in their natural state. The period for hunting the 

 stag has just drawn to a close, and hind-hunting now 

 commences, with every prospect of good sport, as 

 hinds are abundant and in good condition. A visit to 

 this delightful corner of the island will well repay the 

 trouble, especially if the visitor be a thorough sports- 

 man, for an opportunity will be afforded him of whiling 

 away the time until fox-hunting regularly commences, 

 and seeing some grand gallops over the Quantock 

 Hills and the far- stretching, if somewhat treacherous, 

 Exmoor. Now is the time for the followers of the 

 chase to fix upon winter quarters, for the celebrated 

 centres for hunting are rapidly filling up. Melton, 

 the metropolis of sport, will, as usual, be crowded 



