WHEN MARCH WINDS BLOW. 135 



hollow out of sight of the ordinary run of travellers. 

 They start direct from the coast from Portsmouth 

 to London through the New Forest, and from 

 Brighton to London through the Weald, which is 

 crossed and re-crossed in all directions. From the 

 heart of the Weald itself Hampshire, Surrey, 

 Sussex, and Kent a network of green lanes runs. 

 The purposes they were once used for are now for- 

 gotten, at least by the rising generation. They may 

 have chanced to hear of these when they were 

 children. Contraband or smuggling at one time 

 was a notorious fact well known to all who lived in 

 the country mentioned. The Pilgrims' Way is quite 

 distinct from these green rides. Those who are not 

 well versed in the roads might get mixed somewhat ; 

 but to all intents and purposes the Way the pilgrims 

 travelled of old is as plain to trace still as it was at 

 the time they went by it to visit Thomas-a-Becket's 

 tomb. 



I will conclude this chapter by mentioning some 

 of the birds and animals to be found where the Way 

 runs at the foot of this hill, by which the river Mole 

 winds with a course as twisting as the nose of the 

 little animal from which it takes its name. 



