The Early History of the Sport. 33 



for nearly a century — despite Sir Harry Johnston's 

 marvellous effort of the imagination in his '' British 

 Mammals ' ' — it has not been used with regular packs 

 of hounds; though one Evan Llanwensant, in 

 Glamorganshire, employed it as an auxiliary to his 

 single couple of hounds, and in this way killed, so 

 '* Otter " Davies tell us, " more Otters and fou- 

 marts than all the packs in the country put together." 



I have not found any early authority for the 

 use of the spear. Turbervile makes no mention 

 of it in his description of Otter-hunting, and, as we 

 have seen, neither does Walton in his, nearly a 

 century later. It seems to have made its advent, 

 like many other bad things, just prior to the 

 eighteenth century. At any rate, it is mentioned by 

 Somervile in 1735, ^^^ was in use in Carmarthen- 

 shire towards the end of the century. The " Otter- 

 grains " illustrated (Plate facing page 16) was the 

 property of " Otter " Davies, and has been kindly 

 lent for reproduction by his son, Commander 

 Dayrell Davies, R.N. ; but how it came into his 

 father's possession I am unable to state. 



The particulars given in Daniel's " Rural Sports " 

 (1801-2) include the use of the spear, and are 

 reproduced in B Iain's " Encyclopaedia of Rural 

 Sports" (1840) and in Stonehenge's ''Manual 

 of British Rural Sports" (1878): though it is 

 certain that the practice had been discontinued 



D 



