324 A- Walk from 



On returning to Thirsk over the Hambleton range 

 of Mils, we crossed thousands of acres of moor-land 

 covered with heather in full bloom, looking like a 

 purple sea. It was a splendid sight. My friend, 

 who was an artist, stopped for a while to sketch 

 one or two views of the scene. As we proceeded, we 

 saw several green and golden fields impinging upon 

 this florid waste, serving to illustrate what might be 

 done with the vast tracts of land in England and 

 Scotland now bristling with this thick and prickly 

 vegetation. The heatherland over which we were 

 passing was utilised in a rather singular manner. It 

 yielded pasturage to two sets of industrials sheep 

 and bees. As the heather blossom is thought to 

 impart a peculiarly pleasant flavor to honey, I was 

 told many beestock- raisers of Lincolnshire brought 

 their hives to this section to pasture them for a 

 season on this purple prairie. 



The westward view from the precipitous heights of 

 the Hambleton ridge is one of the most beautiful and 

 extensive you will find in England, well worth a special 

 journey to see it. The declining sun was flooding the 

 great basin with the day's last, best smile, filling it to 

 the golden rim of the horizon with a soft light in which 

 lay a landscape of thirty miles' depth, embracing full 

 fifty villages and hamlets, parks, plantations and groves, 



