THE YORK AND AINSTY COUNTRY. 7 



Perhaps there is not such a level country in England. 

 On the north, south, and east sides a hill is unknown, and 

 only here and there are there to be found a few gentle 

 undulations. In the west part of the country, however, 

 there are plenty of hills, and about Knaresborough and 

 Harrogate, where the country joins the Bramham Moor, 

 there is a considerable tract of moorland. Though there 

 are considerable woodlands in parts of the country, it can 

 by no means be called a woodland country, and the bulk 

 of the coverts are gorse or thorn, so that a gallop in the 

 open is almost a certainty whichever part of the country 

 may be visited. 



The country is hunted four days a week, viz., on 

 Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The 

 Monday country is that part which lies to the north of the 

 Ouse and is nearest to York. There is a good deal of 

 plough in this part of the country, and the most southern 

 portion of it is a strong clay. Farther north, about Alne 

 and Aldwark, the land is of a more sandy character, and 

 rabbit holes frequently cause grief The fences in this 

 part of the country are stiff and strong, and big drains 

 are scarcely so prevalent as they are in other portions of 

 the country. Still, it will not do to leave the water 

 jumper at home, as there are the Blue Beck, the Alne 

 Beck, and the Huby Drain, all of them sufficiently 

 formidable obstacles which it will not do to play with, and 

 which, as many a gallant sportsman has discovered to his 

 cost, are rather awkward to negotiate at twice. The Alne 

 Beck is, when full, a bumper indeed, and on one occasion, 

 not so very long ago, it was the scene of an exciting 

 incident. Late in the day Mr. Lycett Green drew for a fox 

 and found him at home in Derring's Wood, and they ran 

 hard over a big country till they got to Alne Drain, which 

 looked sufficiently cold and forbidding. But the bitches 



