FOX-HUNTING ABROAD 



CHAPTER XXIX 



THE hunting man who leaves England on a 

 visit to the Colonies or other countries 

 abroad, naturally wonders if he will still be 

 able to follow his favourite pursuit. In many- 

 instances he will find himself almost as well off 

 in this respect as he was at home, for there are 

 numbers of foreign packs which show capital 

 sport. 



It would, of course, require more than one 

 volume to describe all these Hunts, so we can 

 but touch on the fringe of the subject in the 

 space of a single chapter. Beginning with the 

 United States, there are 39 or 40 American Hunts, 

 the majority of which devote their attention to 

 fox. Hunting has been held in more or less high 

 esteem in America, particularly in the Southern 

 States, for a great number of years, and some of 

 the more fashionable Hunts are conducted on 

 up-to-date English lines. In quite early times 

 English hounds found their way to the States, 

 and a number were imported from France. The 

 first pack of French hounds was sent over by 

 Lafayette, and to-day one still sees native-bred 

 American hounds which greatly resemble the 

 French breed. As far back as the Revolutionary 

 War, gentlemen in the Southern States kept their 

 own private packs, and though they were of the 

 rough and ready sort, they seem to have enjoyed 

 much good sport. 



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