182 The Hunting Countries of England. 



a combination in every aspect which it may present to 

 him. A good deal of timber^ again, is met with every- 

 where ; mostly in the form of draw-rails in lieu of 

 gateways ; such as in Sussex are termed " bar ways/* 

 while here they come under the title of 'Hhree 

 bars.^^ 



But the great feature of the Cattistock Hunt is that 

 its main strength is derived from the tenant farmers. 

 With the exception of the large estates belonging to a 

 very few resident landowners (who themselves lend all 

 possible assistance to the cause of foxhunting), the 

 whole country is not only let out in large farms, but 

 the coverts (mostly small gorses, plantations, and 

 woods) with the shooting are allowed to go with the 

 holdings. The preservation of foxes, consequently, 

 lies almost entirely with the tenant farmers — and right 

 loyally do they carry out their mission. They nearly 

 all follow the chase ; and they one and all look after 

 the foxes as carefully as they do their flocks. A 

 poultry-fund they have never allowed to exist ; earth- 

 stopping is taken entirely into their own hands ; and 

 to fail to find a fox on a man^s holding is to him in the 

 light of a personal calamity. Half the field (never a 

 large one, save occasionally in the neighbourhood of 

 Weymouth, where it may rise to a hundred and fifty 

 horsemen) is made up of farmers. 



Of the leading resident landowners — there is Lord 

 Ilchester, whose property of Drivend Melbury lies in 

 an angle of vale on the north, and includes the Mel- 

 bury woodlands (where as many as thirteen litters of 

 foxes are said to have been bred in a season). The 

 Kennels of the Hunt are close to Melbury; Mr. 



