42 BRITANNY AND THE CHASE. 



sportsmen often call there to fill their wallet, and then chose 

 his man according to his liking ; and so got sport and his 

 dinner. Not a bad economist, this four-footed Dugald 

 Dalgetty. 



Another reason why it is difficult to find your way is 

 the constant cutting of wood and furze. One year you 

 find a splendid woodcock coppice, and fill your bag. You 

 duly note it down for the next year, and make a resolve 

 to go to it, when, you find the hill is as bare as your 

 hand, and not cover for a mouse. In another quarter 

 a coppice becomes a wood ; in another, a huge tract of 

 furze, which was desperately m the way, disappears totally ; 

 and in another, a favourite beat becomes impassable. All 

 these changes must be well noted and remembered; and 

 hence an accurate knowledge of the country is nowhere 

 more necessary than in Britamiy. Whatever you may do 

 in the way of shooting preparations, do not neglect a good 

 stock of prog. Do not be led away by dreams of a jolly 

 English farmer, with his foaming tankard, and hunch of 

 bread and cheese, and hearty welcome ; in Britanny you 

 will get Httle but black bread and water, and that you must 

 pay for. The people are poor and inhospitable, and have 

 miserable fare, even if they were otherwise ; therefore re- 

 member the worthy Dugald aforesaid, and after laying in 

 a good stock of provand in your skin, put the rest into your 

 bag. I once got planted in a furze field, and, but for the 

 timely help of my bag, I doubt if I should have ever got 

 out again. It was desirable to cross it, and I had, be- 

 fore entering it, taken the points, as I thought, pretty 

 well. At the edges it was not so thick, and I got 



