34 WITH THE IVOODLANDERS. 



blowing: between three and four in the morning 

 in summer, and five o'clock in the morning in 

 winter, these people were about, and none went 

 out without having had some hot tea and some- 

 thing to eat. Timber-felling in the spring, and 

 copse-cutting; hoop-shaving in winter, and char- 

 coal-burning. Just for a change some would do 

 a bit of harvesting, but nearly all their time was 

 spent in and about the woods and the moors : they 

 always had some job in hand there, or one to look 

 forward to. Eight miles a-day, each way, was not 

 considered too much to walk, out and home. I 

 have done eighteen myself very comfortably; but 

 when the distance was over this, they camped out, 

 in forest style, and very comfortable camping- 

 quarters they made for themselves. Firs were 

 felled, and a hut built and thatched, with a wattle 

 door, packed with heather, very quickly. 



By their camp-fires I have often listened as they 

 related circumstances that had occurred in the past ; 

 but the greatest treat to me was to hear them 

 talk in their quiet unassuming fashion of all the 

 mysteries of southern wood-craft. At that time I 

 had just returned from a visit to my native marshes 



