30G The Hunting Countries of England. 



are only out three times in the week, he will have 

 ample time and opportunity for tasting every variety 

 of sport that the neighbourhood offers. 



The west-countrymen hunt every day of the week — 

 and instances exist of their making one horse do the 

 whole. I am within fact in this improbable statement, 

 and unquestionably within the bounds of truth in 

 asserting that the most determined and opulent six- 

 days-a-week man never allows himself more than a 

 trio of hunters. Horses are here never called upon 

 to shake themselves with jumping ; and in galloping 

 their effort is always above the ground — the fi'ame is 

 seldom jarred and the sinews seldom wrenched. They 

 come home leg-weary and back-weary, perhaps ; but 

 the heart is beating quietly. They eat heartily and 

 sleep well ; and the next morning are as fit as ever. 

 And so is the rider. To hurry along a lane involves 

 no great wear and tear of nervous or muscular tissue ; 

 and the glorious air of the western coast more than 

 makes amends for any temporary exhaustion con- 

 sequent on many hours in the saddle — for distance to 

 covert and a late dinner-hour never enter into the 

 calculations of a western sportsman. " The Moor " 

 (a term reserved for Exmoor's most open wilderness) 

 puts a somewhat tougher strain on man and beast; but, 

 bar improbable accidents, the beast of the country can 

 well take his part upon it twice a week — and even be 

 glad of a byeday near home besides. It is a fact that 

 the patriarch, John Russell, for many years hunted a 

 tract of country that included what is at present 

 known as the Dulverton, and most of what is now 

 held by the Stars of the West, with an estabhshment 



