CHAPTER XVI 



STATISTICS OF THE PRESENT DAY 



" At length, returned from joyous chase, 

 With mirth, we'll end the day. 

 Which soon to Morpheus giving place, 

 We'll sleep our toils away." 



If hunting were to cease, a large market for many 

 goods, it is well known, would suffer. How great 

 is the annual or even daily sum involved in the 

 upkeep of hunters and hunting accessories it is 

 difficult to arrive at. Mr. R. Ord, an ex-master 

 of hounds and still secretary to his hunt, esti- 

 mated that 200,000 hunters were kept, which have 

 cost their owners ;£io,ooo,ooo, and involved the 

 annual expenditure of something like ;£7,5oo,ooo. 

 Again, the estimate of 200,000 horses is a very 

 low one indeed. Of the 250 riding packs in the 

 United Kingdom many are out on an average three 

 days a week, many are out four, a few five and 

 even six. The two-days-a-week packs are not 

 particularly numerous. In these days fields are 

 large, almost everywhere, except in a few remote 

 countries. Twenty women hunt for every one 

 who followed hounds a generation ago, and the 



fashion of having a second horse out becomes 



130 



