DEVON AND SOMERSET. 6i 



them at night, for when brought to their last 

 devices they are very much inchned to seek for 

 one of them, and there swim up and down until 

 the deftly thrown line secures them. Haddon 

 Hill is by no means the pleasantest of the many 

 heath covered enclosures of Exmoor to ride 

 over at speed, as the herbage is old and rank, 

 and many a hidden channel, washed out by the 

 thunder showers of summer, the heavy rains 

 and melted snows of winter and the early spring, 

 lies lurking amongst the grass and ling as a pit- 

 fall for the unwary. Many a fall has the crest 

 of Haddon witnessed, and it is just such falls 

 as these that take place here, in galloping on the 

 fiat, that are amongst the most dangerous of 

 hunting accidents, and were it not that heather 

 and peat provide most excellent soft falling, 

 the casualty list of an autumn season must be 

 longer than it usually is. It is not an unusual 

 occurrence in a fall while galloping over such 

 ground as this, to turn a complete somersault 

 and drop watch or monev from one's pocket, 

 which seldom comes to hand again, and it is 

 surprising the distance to which one's hunting 

 crop will tiy, as one whirls through the air in 

 the act of falling from a horse that is going 

 best pace over trappy ground. It is not in the 

 descent of precipices or in negotiating the deep 

 combe side paths, awe inspiring as they are, 

 that falls usually take place in Exmoor hunting, 



