DEVON AND SOMERSET. 15 



It may be in part the prevailing loneliness which 

 renders the hill country farmers so cordial in 

 their welcome to the visitor, whether he bestrides 

 a hunter from the shires, or tramps cheerily 

 afoot in quest of health and sport combined, 

 but certain it is that one of the first impressions 

 to be produced on the mind of the visitant is 

 that of the courtesy and good nature of the 

 inhabitants whom he meets when afield. 



'' English as she is spoke " on the moor is 

 often a sore puzzle to unaccustomed ears, and 

 the dialects encountered vary much with each 

 watershed and county, but in time, the quaint 

 idioms and the ways of thought of a bygone 

 age, when steam and electricity had not yet 

 served mankind, become familiar, and the man 

 from ''up country" can understand and make 

 himself understood without undue delay. One 

 point will always istrike the traveller over this 

 country of long and hilly miles and many cross 

 tracks, that the native who answers his anxious 

 queries can never appreciate his difficulty in 

 understanding the directions given, or in follow- 

 ing them out to the desired goal. The instruc- 

 tions that would be ample for a West Country 

 man born and bred, are often sadly confusing 

 to a native of a distant county or a Londoner 

 out for a holiday, while the local estimate of 

 distance always seems to err on the hopeful 

 side. In the dark, or in fog, it is absolutely 



