THROUGH FIRS AND HEATHER. 291 



lands of Surrey ; and if you followed the tops or 

 crests of the hills, no matter on which side of the 

 bog- hollows or valleys, you would come to other 

 huge projecting mounds, the mighty buttresses of 

 the hills. They are all named, but it is not neces- 

 sary to give their names here, as my description is 

 not intended for a topographical one. Here, as in 

 other out-of-the-world places, they give his Satanic 

 Majesty the credit for most of what is wild or grand 

 in nature, as well as very much that is exceedingly 

 beautiful. Legends, wild and strange, have been 

 handed down from generation to generation. They 

 remain now as firmly rooted as they have ever 

 been. The two great powers of good and evil still 

 carry on strong warfare within those who live under 

 the shadows of these hills ; the blood of the wild 

 nomads who first settled in the vast hollow was hot 

 and intemperate. One might fancy their ancestors 

 had drunk pretty deeply of the devil's own brew, and 

 that its effects are still visible in the features as well 

 as in the habits of the present race. 



We are on the borders of what was the home, 

 a few years ago, of the wild red-deer. How many 

 stags and hinds have been killed in this district, 



