192 THE NEW FOREST 



had really studied sport, that it was pretty 

 clear that, given an equally good pack of hounds, 

 an equally good huntsmen, and a staff equally 

 well mounted, it would be far easier to show 

 good sport in hunting the deer than by hunt- 

 ing the fox over this same country. 



My old friend was, I found, of the opposite 

 faction, and without consideration voted me a 

 heretic. But I have never swerved from the 

 opinion I then expressed, and am satisfied that, 

 provided the numbers of the deer are kept within 

 reasonable limits, the man who hunts them, if 

 only he has a good pack of hounds, has a better 

 opportunity to show sport than has the man who 

 hunts the fox. 



But, after all, in either case the "good pack 

 of hounds " is the first and the last consideration. 



Well, to go back to 18821 found that 

 there were two forms of hunting to be enjoyed 

 in New Forest. One, shared in common with 

 many other countries in England, the other with 

 one only that which dominates hunting down 

 in the West Country. 



Both, under fair treatment, could show equally 

 good sport. Both had ardent supporters. One 

 was free, with a good establishment of hounds, 

 kennels, &c. ; the other was hampered and impo- 

 verished, with nothing but a scratch pack of hounds 



