The Otter Hound. 163 



work are required to perfect a pack of otter hounds. 

 Squire Lomax, of Clitheroe, over a quarter of a 

 century ago, had the misfortune to lose his entire 

 pack through an attack of dumb madness. Now 

 his were perhaps the most accompHshed lot of 

 otter hounds any man ever possessed. Each hound 

 was perfect in itself, and the pack might have 

 found and killed an otter without the slightest assist- 

 ance from their esteemed master, who had taken 

 years to bring them to their state of perfection. 

 '' You will soon get another pack together, Mr. 

 Lomax," said a friend. '* No," w^as the reply, " my 

 old hounds took me the best part of a lifetime to 

 obtain, and should I recommence again, I should be 

 an old man and past hunting, before I got another 

 lot to my Hking." Mr. Lomax for years hunted the 

 Ribble, Lune, and other rivers in the north. 



Mr. Gallon, of Bishop Auckland, who met his 

 death whilst otter hunting in Scotland, was another 

 great authority on this hound, and his opinion was 

 pretty much the same as that of Mr. Lomax. But 

 good sport can be had without having hounds quite 

 so perfect as those mentioned. 



I am, however, getting a little in advance of my 

 text, and something must be said of the earlier days 

 of the otter hound. King John is said to have had 

 a pack, of which he was very fond. Although thus 



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