234 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE 



THE QUANTOCKS. 



THE Quantock hills, by force of custom, yearly demand a 

 couple of days of staghunting, early in the season. Accordingly 

 Mr. Bisset the following week took his new pack from the 

 Exford kennels to his own place, Bagboro', situated at the foot 

 of these hills, on the slopes of which he has considerable 

 coverts. The Quantocks are little more than a lofty isolated 

 ridge some twenty miles eastward of Exmoor Forest and 

 running at right angles to the coast. Heather as rich as is to 

 be found on Brendon or Dunkerry crowns their summit ; woods- 

 as dense and game-enticing as Culbone or Cloutsham fill their 

 wide combes and clothe their steep sides. But the Quantocks 

 are limited in length and still more limited in breadth. A stag 

 may run their whole extent, and be killed in the sea in half 

 a dozen miles while the crowd rides along the upper ridge 

 and anticipates his course from point to point. In fact, as- 

 said the oldest sportsman of the west (and all who hunt here 

 must know whom I take the liberty of quoting), " A quiet trot 

 along the top will probably show you all the run." It may 

 happen indeed as it did on this Monday, that the deer takes to 

 the vale and the " enclosures " (as the impracticable fields and 

 fences of Somerset are aptly termed) ; and then your trust 

 must be put in roads and gateways, of which there are happily 

 plenty. And so the Quantocks are not held in high favour by 

 true staghunters as a body, nor, I imagine, by the master in 

 particular. But at least they commend themselves to the 

 notice of the overflowing energy of Taunton, Bridgewater, and 

 their environs ; and on the occasion of Quantock Farm being 

 advertised, there is as much stir in the neighbourhood, as when 

 Cloutsham calls out all the picnic populace within reach of 

 Exmoor. So, on horse, foot and in carriage all within twenty 

 miles betake themselves, luncheons, wives, and other belongings, 

 to the summit of the Quantocks there to feast, to shout, and 

 to make staghunting a right royal sport. The longer the 

 tufting, the better for them ; for, if the meet be at 10.45 A.M., 



