EARLY HUNTING EXPERIENCES. 7 



mention. The meet was " at Batcombe Wood, 

 near Bruton, and the wind was in the south-west, 

 with driving rain. We found immediately, and 

 went away on only middling terms across the 

 enclosure by Batcombe Lodge and on to Asham 

 Wood " — the latter a covert of some 600 acres — 

 " across the corner of Asham, hounds made for 

 the * alpine heights of Mendip,' hunting their fox 

 over the heather and furzes of this wild and 

 romantic region to a place called Lye. Here, in 

 heavy fog and rain, the fox was apparently lost, 

 having been headed by the furze-cutters on the 

 moor. By taking hounds on two miles, the line 

 was recovered in masterly style in Lye Wood, 

 the pack racing their fox through the fine coverts 

 of Colonel Horner at Mells, and on to Vallis and 

 Little Elm, near Frome. Here a curious sight 

 presented itself In a rocky gorge in the valley 

 at the base of a tree overhano-ino;' a mountain 

 torrent, the hounds were at bay, and on the top 

 of the tree, twenty feet above ground, and in 

 a mass of ivy, the fox was at perch. From thence 

 he made his leap into the stream below, a favourite 

 hound and the fox sinking to the bottom together. 

 Thus ended a run of four hours and forty-five 

 minutes, over every variety of ground, a good 

 twenty-five miles having been covered in this 

 curious chase, w^iich extended through thirteen 

 parishes." A peculiarity that marked Mr Yeatman's 

 description of a run was that he always noted the 

 number of parishes hounds had been through. 



