178 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



to take place on the morrow, and as the love of sport 

 prevails as much among the lower order of Shropshire 

 natives as any other class, some hundreds of the colliers 

 will be seen in waiting on the hills to participate in the 

 diversion. Clad in the roughest style of dress, if demi- 

 nudity can be acknowledged or associated with the 

 expression, they present a strange appearance, and are 

 as black as demons from the nature of their work. To 

 hear their unearthly Kaffir-like shouts and yells 

 mingled with the melodious cry of the hounds when a 

 fox is viewed making an attempt to gain his ac- 

 customed haven, still guarded by the lingering embers 

 of the fires, and behold these human imps literally of 

 ' the world below,' afford a scene as exciting as it is 

 extraordinary. The riding on the Titterstone Hill is a 

 service of great danger; the huge and rugged stones 

 which lie about in all directions, some several feet 

 above, others nearly level with the surface, present 

 very uncertain footing for the horse; but many of the 

 sportsmen, especially the farmers, ride over these 

 obstacles at an alarming pace. 



I must not omit to mention that during the time the 

 Wheatland hounds were kept on by the farmers — that 

 is about the year 1828 — Mr. Jones of Maesmawr, near 

 Newtown, in Montgomeryshire, occasionally brought 

 his unique pack for a fortnight at a time into this 

 district. They were designated the Welsh hounds, and 

 most truly did they preserve the ancient system in 

 every respect. Many of them were the old-fashioned 

 rough-coated hounds ; a breed which I imagine to be 

 now extinct, except for the purpose of otter-hunting. 

 It is, however, but fair to state they seldom missed 

 their fox. Commencing their operations at a very early 

 hour, they hunted their game up to his kennel by the 

 drag, and a run of three or four hours' duration was 

 very frequently the result. When this establishment 

 was broken up the sale of the horses occasioned con- 

 siderable interest in the sporting world, not only in 

 consequence of the cleverness of many of them but also 



