i8o ON SURREY HILLS. 



variable companion in these wanderings, until the 

 thick end, where all the nourishment had been con- 

 centrated, is to the front. Now if the worst comes, 

 it will fall heavily arid convincingly. 



The door opens just a few inches, and a head 

 shows indistinctly in the inner gloom, asking, " What 

 do ye waunt ? " Direction to a certain place which 

 I know to be near at hand, I politely say. " I doan't 

 'member naunt about it, I doan't," is the churlish 

 answer. The door is sharply banged to, and the 

 dog at a secret sign wags his tail amicably and re- 

 tires to the place he sprang from, behaving, the cun- 

 ning old man-pleaser, just as though he had known 

 one all his life. 



As a rule, I avoid these lonely cottages as I would 

 a plague-stricken dwelling. Sometimes there are two 

 dogs round, which does not improve matters. 



As we pass on, walnut-trees show in the hedges, 

 which are mainly composed of hazels, from ten to 

 twenty feet high. No human figure is to be seen 

 yet of either sex ; and we wonder where the in- 

 habitants can be, for the huge fields we see from 

 time to time are heavily cropped with roots. We 

 turn at a bend in the road, and the hazels give 



