34 THE LAND'S END 



to look at us I foolishly gave her a slice of bread and 

 butter and spoke kindly to her, and now I can't get 

 away from her. I give her nothing, and I try to 

 escape her attention, but she watches the door, and 

 when she sees me with my things on she insists on 

 keeping with me even if I walk miles. It is most 

 inconvenient." It certainly was, and we carefully 

 avoided the village for fear of remarks. Fowls, too, 

 are reared in numbers, and it is a great grievance of 

 the farmers that foxes must be religiously preserved 

 along this coast where they cannot be hunted. Here, 

 again, I am reminded of Carew's Survey of Cornwall, 

 in which he writes : " The fox planteth his dwelling 

 in the steep cliffs of the seaside, where he possesseth 

 holds, so many in number, so dangerous of access, 

 and so full of windings, as in a manner it falleth out 

 a matter impossible to disseize him of his ancient 

 inheritance." He still keeps it, and after three cen- 

 turies is more secure in it than ever, since there is 

 now no stronger law than this unwritten one which 

 gives immunity to the fox. 



As a rule, several dogs are kept on the farm ; but 

 he cares little for them. His fastness is close by in 

 the cliffs, and between it and the farm there is a 

 wilderness of furze bushes and stone fences, the ins 

 and outs of which he knows better than the dogs. 

 They cannot come near him. At one place the 

 farmer's wife told me the foxes came about the house 

 almost every night and started barking, whereupon 

 the dogs barked in reply, and this would go on, bark 

 fox, bark dog, by the hour, keeping them awake, 



