1 90 HARBIERS. 



white patches heing the prevailmg colour; and they 

 certainly do not keep very close ; but they are fast 

 enough, persevering, and, killing a fair share of hares, 

 show very good sport to both lookers-on and hard riders. 

 The huntsman Willard, who has no " whip " to help 

 him, and often more assistance than he requires, is a 

 heavy man, but contrives, in spite of his weight, to get 

 his hounds in the fastest runs. 



The country, it may be as well to say for the benefit 

 of the thousands who have never been on these famous 

 mutton -producing " South Downs," is composed of a 

 series of table-lands divided by basin-like valleys, for 

 the most j^art covered with short turf, with large patches 

 of gorse and heather, in which the hares, when beaten, 

 take refuge. Of late years, high prices and Brighton 

 demand, with the new system of artificial agriculture, 

 have pushed root crops and corn crops into sheltered 

 valleys and far over the hills, much to the disgust of the 

 ancient race of shepherds. 



It is scarcely necessary to observe, that on Brighton 

 Downs there are no blank days, but the drawing is a 

 real operation performed seriously until such a time as 

 the company having all assembled, say at half-past seven 

 o'clock, when, if the unaided faculties of the pack have 

 not brought them up to a form, a shepherd appears as 

 the Deus ex machind. In spite of all manner of pre- 

 cautions, the hounds will generally rush up to the point 

 without hunting; loud rises the joyful cry; and, if it is 

 level ground, the whole meet — hacks, hobbie-horses, 

 and hunters — look as if their riders meant to go off in a 

 whirlwind of trampling feet. There is usually a circle 

 or two with the stoutest hare before making a long 

 stretch; but, on lucky days like that of our first and 

 last visit, the pace mends, the hounds settle, the riding- 



