394 The Hunting Countries of England, 



BRAES OF DEEWENT.* 



The soutii bank of the Tyne hardly carries with it 

 the appearance or atmosphere of a locality specially 

 suited to foxhunting — nor_, till you get some miles 

 west of the great smoky city of Newcastle^ can it be 

 made to lend itself in any way to such a purpose. 

 Ironworks, coalmines, and an almost continuous town, 

 the habitation of working hands and their belongings, 

 leave space for nothing more unromantic than toil and 

 money making, nothing more exhilarating than the 

 fiery and dingy breath of the ceaseless furnaces. But 

 the dark area of smoke and dirt by the riverside 

 gradually narrows ; and the rough, steep, hillside in 

 the background rolls upward to a fresher atmosphere 

 and an open country — to be succeeded by other lofty 

 hills and other deep valleys in wide and rapid succes- 

 sion. Often and again more coalpits, works, and 

 wagon ways mark and mar the already rough face 

 of nature; but the fox can be hunted and men can 

 ride in the pursuit. There is ample covert for him, 

 too, in the thickly wooded ravines, through which the 

 various burns find their way to the Tyne. The chief 



* Vide Stanford's " Hunting Map," Sheet 2, and Hobson's 

 roxhimting Atlas. 



