320 The Hunting Countries of England. 



not a single sheep is allowed to stray, was a tough 

 sample of liigh heather — till three parts of it were 

 recently laid bare by fire. Herds of the glorious 

 wild red deer walked about in it, invisible all but 

 their heads and branching antlers. Now they come 

 in double numbers, to feed on the new grass springing 

 from the ashes — and take strangely little heed of the 

 foxhounds drawing across their sanctum. 



Shortly, the best and the liveliest sport of the Stars 

 of the West is on the true Moor. The rest is of the 

 point-to-point, hounds-by -themselves, type of Devon 

 and Somerset generally — foxhunting of a kind good 

 for hounds, death to foxes, full of interest to those 

 men who delight in the bare knowledge that the pack 

 are having a " good time,'^ but of mixed pleasure to 

 those who would fain share the fun and the work with 

 hounds from beginning to end. Beyond the borders 

 of Exmoor is, in fact, an unrideable, uncompromising 

 country. Comparisons, always odious, are altogether 

 out of place when the subjects are on utterly different 

 footings j so contrast, rather than comparison, sug- 

 gests the thought that, whereas in many a country 

 one avoids taking a road lest there should be difficulty 

 in turning out of it quickly enough — in the west you 

 must turn into a road whenever you can, if you would 

 get on at all. 



Whence came the name of the Stars of the West I 

 know not. It is sufficient to say that they owe their 

 being and maintenance entirely to the sporting spirit 

 of a leading yeoman, who keeps them for no ostenta- 

 tion, but for his own pleasure and that of his 

 neighbours. The vanities of dress and show are not 



