HUNTING ON FOOT 165 



dalesmen. In these countries it must be said that 

 a good cry is indispensable, and probably in the 

 lowlands their hounds would be called noisy. 

 They certainly are " rum 'uns to look at " ; equally 

 certain is it that they are "good 'uns to go," and 

 their drive is remarkable, whilst they account for 

 their foxes in a workmanlike manner. I have 

 never had a day's hunting with any of these packs. 

 I must say that hill-climbing is not much in my line, 

 and that I prefer the four legs of a stout hunter, 15.3, 

 and a blood one, to my own two to carry me to 

 hounds. But I have seen a hound trail and a fell 

 race in the dales, and a more sporting way of spend- 

 ing an hour or two I do not know of. In the 

 hound trail some eight or ten hounds started, and 

 the trail would be at least five miles, but it looked 

 more like six. The start was in a valley, then it 

 took to the right, running up one fell side for 

 some distance, crossing the valley again and return- 

 ing to the field whence it had started on the 

 opposite side of the valley. By this arrangement 

 it was possible, by means of a good field glass, to 

 see everything hounds were doing, and their cheery 

 cry could always be heard, for it is astonishing 

 how the hills echo it back. The pace they ran at 

 was a very fast one, perhaps faster than it would 

 have been had they been running fox, and I should 

 not omit to mention that I was informed that the 

 hounds which were used for the hound trails were 

 never taken out hunting, as they were unreliable. 

 But the fell race gave one the best notion of hunt- 

 ing on foot as conducted in the dales, that is to 

 say, it gave one some idea of the speed and 

 endurance of those best of good sportsmen, the 

 Cumberland " Statesmen." Some dozen athletic- 



