THE HOME OF THE WILD RED DEER. 5 



but the true home of the deer, and the cream of the 

 country to ride over. 



There are in the northern half of the country three 

 main ranges of hills, two running north and south, 

 the Ouantock Hills and the Brendon Hills, and the 

 third, the main ridge of Exmoor, running from 

 Dunkery on the east to Chapman's Barrows on the 

 west. 



The Quantock Hills are a narrow range beginning 

 near the sea and running at an average elevation of 

 rather over a thousand feet for about ten miles 

 inland, when they begin to widen out and fall away, 

 little by little, into the vale of Taunton. They con- 

 tain some of the wildest and most beautiful scenery 

 to be found in England. 



The hills rise abruptly from the valleys on each 

 side, so that one may pass in a few hundred yards 

 from some of the richest, most scientifically-cultivated 

 land in Somerset on to a wild expanse of golden 

 gorse and purple heather, or lose oneself in a seem- 

 ingly endless mass of scrub oak and rhododendron. 

 The hillsides are scored with precipitous combes, 

 down each of which a tiny stream dashes and tumbles 

 on its way to join the bigger waters in the vale 

 below, the combes on the western side being mostly 

 small and devoid of covert, w^hile the longer, deeper 

 combes on the eastern slope contain thousands of 

 acres of the densest woods to be found anywhere in 

 the West. Here the red deer lie in peace, and issue 

 forth by night to plunder the crops in the fertile 



