214 The Hunting Countries of England, 



affording a most useful area of open ground from 

 Howe Bridge along tlie south-west of tlie country, 

 and up past Kirkby-Misperton^ to Haugh Wood. 

 Near Pickering the inclosures grow smaller, grass is 

 plentiful, the fences strong, the ditches wide and deep, 

 and timber is freely met with. Add to this that on 

 the hills are many stone walls, it will be easy to under- 

 stand that a really first-class horse is wanted with 

 Capt. Johnstone^s hounds. Nearly every kind of 

 fence has to be encountered ; and, while at one 

 moment he is making his way over a stiff Yorkshire 

 vale, he may find himself at the next climbing a steep 

 hillside with the prospect of a racing gallop over the 

 undulating moor on the top. Thus he must be a 

 hunter from every point of view — a bold, strong 

 jumper, and bred to gallop and to stay. Fortunately, 

 the farmers of this part of Yorkshire still turn their 

 attention to producing animals that do them credit and 

 bring them a profit j and many good horses are bred 

 in the neighbourhood. 



The crude hill ground outside Capt. Johnstone^s 

 country to the north and west, together with the cliffs 

 on the north-east, is hunted in old-fashioned style by 

 trencher fed packs — to wit, the Sinnington, the 

 Eskdale and the Stainton Dale — each member of the 

 Hunt, generally a farmer, keeping a hound or two, in 

 whose doings he maintains a deep vested interest. 

 The last-named pack, by the way, scarcely usurps such 

 an extended and definite district as is laid down for it 

 in the maps alluded to. Saltersgate is the extreme 

 northern point at which Capt. Johnstone^s hounds are 

 seen. 



