LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK 141 



class of America are to all appearance as lavish in their 

 personal expenditure as they are certainly generous, almost 

 unbounded, in their hospitality. 



Let that be as it may, a strong taste for country life 

 has of late set in, especially on the part of the younger 

 generation, whose leaning is towards the development of 

 active out-door sport. Consequently many picturesque 

 residences have been erected in the district aforesaid, clubs 

 have been formed for hunting and polo, and no less than 

 three smartly-equipped packs of foxhounds take the field 

 upon Long Island, as soon as the crops are cut and the 

 heat of summer has given place to the pleasant coolness 

 of autumn. These three are known respectively as The 

 Rockaway, The Meadowbrook, and the Queen's County or 

 Mr. Griswold's — the hounds of the last-named kennel 

 having been almost entirely imported, or bred from stock 

 imported, by that gentleman. 



Saturday being essentially the recognised day on which 

 the hunting men of New York take the field, and Saturday 

 at early morning being the time of departure for the out- 

 going steamer, I feared that once again no chance re- 

 mained of my joining in a gallop across the timber-fenced 

 plains of Long Island — occasion that I had for many a day 

 coveted, and for which I had received many a kindly in- 

 vitation. But at Chicago a telegram hurried me on — 

 " Griswold will give you a run on Friday morning." 

 The mount, I knew, was certain to be capable and trusty ; 

 and forward I travelled delightedly, to reach Long Island 

 overnight. 



10.30 at Westbury Forge was the arrangement; and 

 thither we drove in the cool morning twilight — a team 

 {i.c. a pair, in transatlantic rendering) of lusty trotters 

 making the dust fly handsomely. None of the country 

 roads of America are macadamised, or in any way built or 

 hardened, a fact that I mention now as having an import- 

 ant bearing not only on the aspect of the day's proceed- 

 ings, but upon the feasibility of crossing the enclosed 

 country at all. Let me not be misunderstood. Roads 

 are in Long Island of little or no use in the light in which 

 we, the great body of English fox-hunters, are accustomed to 



