HUNTING 51 



feels but dissatisfied and bored at the slowness of 

 the pace. 



It is well to visit other packs from time to 

 time, and see how things are conducted there, 

 and the methods of different huntsmen, for new 

 ideas are thus gained, and probably old ones may- 

 be discarded. It is easy to persevere in a fault 

 for a long time, without discovering that one is 

 in a wrong groove, until something occurs to 

 open one's eyes ; and this is more likely to occur 

 through moving about than by staying at home, 

 for life is not long enough for any one person to 

 acquire everything there is to be learned about 

 any pursuit, and it takes a long time to acquire 

 fresh truths through personal observation alone. 

 But man is fortunately able to communicate his 

 ideas, so by travelling about and meeting fresh 

 experts a stock of knowledge may be gained that 

 would otherwise have remained more or less a 

 sealed book to the solitary inquirer. 



Though the main outlines of hunting must 

 ever remain the same, methods of carrying them 

 out must vary according to the nature of the 

 country, for what can be more different than the 

 pastures of high Leicestershire and the flints, 

 and arable, and big woods of Hampshire ! and 

 while a rapid cast is absolutely necessary to get 

 away from the huge crowd in the one place, it 

 would be fatal in the other where the cold-scent- 

 ing nature of the soil requires hounds to be left 

 alone to puzzle out the line for themselves. 

 Each of these countries, again, differs from the 

 wild moorland regions, which so many packs 

 in the north and west of Britain possess for 

 happy hunting grounds, and which, indeed, 

 mostly show excellent sport to their devoted 



