STAGHUNTING ON EXMOOR. 75 



wretch who has to stand there long, in a winter 

 hailstorm or even upon a chill October afternoon. 

 Bleak and inhospitable and very rough to the 

 tread are many of the wide slopes that run 

 down in comparatively gentle gradients to the 

 heads of the deep water-worn combes with which 

 the hillsides are seamed. 



On the northern slopes facing Cloutsham a 

 carpet of green whortleberry and a less stony 

 soil afford fairly good galloping ground, but 

 to gallop across this wide expanse with any 

 degree of comfort or safety, any rider must 

 know his way right well, or else follow a pilot 

 to whom it is all familiar. 



Wootton Common and the Graveyard and the 

 hillside facing Dunkerv Hill Gate are covered 

 with myriads of loose surface stones, which are 

 in great request for road mending and building 

 purposes, and the result is, that where one's horse 

 does not trip upon a fixed or rolling stone, he 

 sometimes puts his foot into a hole whence a 

 boulder has been extracted. Some of the more 

 stony parts remind the rider very much of the 

 going on Dartmoor, but of that country and its 

 stones and bogs it has been wittily said, " On 

 Dartmoor vou can ride nowhere except where 

 you can, while on Exmoor vou can ride every- 

 where except where you can't." 



Dunkery has its boggy tracts, and some well- 

 defined spring heads which must be avoided at 



