THE FERN PARADISE. 



near Horseman's Steps, a solitary cottage, perched 

 in a charming nook. Close by the cottage walls 

 the North Bovey River, pent into a narrow bed, 

 roars over the big boulders that choke up its 

 course. Here we have the charming combination 

 of waterfall, cascade, and silent pool. The huge 

 masses of granite which lie along the course of 

 this stream, are in many places delightfully car- 

 peted with moss, whose deep and light-green 

 colouring looks charmingly fresh where the limpid 

 water flows over or near it. A short distance 

 from this spot are the far-famed Horseman's 

 Steps. The narrow course of the North Bovey 

 River is here completely blocked up by enormous 

 masses of granite, and we can only see the stream 

 by peering down between interstices in the rocks ; 

 but we can hear it thundering along in its almost 

 subterranean channel. A small tract of marsh 

 land intervenes between Horseman's Steps and 

 Lustleigh Cleave; and there we found, along by 

 the course of the North Bovey River, numbers of 

 the Mountain Buckler Fern, the Hard Fern, the 

 Lady Fern, the Male Fern, the Broad Buckler 

 Fern, and others. In this district is to be found 



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