BEASTS OF THE CHASE. THE STAG. 53 



The good fortune that has attended the packs of staghounds 

 kept on the Exmoors during the last thirty years in regard to 

 the ability of their huntsmen is very remarkable. Most of us 

 are inclined to compare things of the present unfavourably 

 with those of the past ; and this inclination is almost universal 

 when questions connected with hunting are under discussion. 

 It is, however, very doubtful if a veteran stag hunter could be 

 found in Devon or Somerset who could be induced to assert 

 that a more able exponent of the art of stag hunting than the 

 present huntsman, Arthur Heal, ever carried the horn on the 

 Exmoors. If anyone is desirous of observing a practical 

 demonstration of the best methods of surmounting the many 

 difficulties and emergencies with which a huntsman has to deal, 

 he should pay a visit to Exford as soon as may be after the 

 middle of August. That Heal has succeeded in making his 

 hounds very handy under all circumstances without having 

 subjected them to that severity of treatment considered by 

 some huntsmen to be essential, entitles his system in the 

 kennel and the field to the approval of all lovers of sport and 

 of the hounds that furnish it. 



Being a light weight, a good horseman, and having a 

 thorough knowledge of the country, he scarcely ever loses 

 touch of his hounds. Consequently, they can seldom divide 

 or run riot without his knowledge. He rarely loses any of his 

 hounds for more than three or four days at a time, owing to 

 the excellent practice of exercising the pack on the moors, 

 with every road to and from which they become well acquainted ; 

 so that, if separated from the pack through lameness or other 

 accidental causes, they are able to find their way to the 

 kennels. 



All the local supporters of the Hunt are exhorted not to 

 ' harbour ' any lost hound that may honour them with a visit, 

 but to expel him from their doors with as much force as may 

 be necessary. This system averts an infinite amount of trouble, 

 anxiety, and expense, and renders that loitering and loafing 

 propensity, so strong in some hounds, utterly unprofitable. 



