38o THE BEST OF THE FUN 



The Muskerry country is, like much of county Cork, 

 hable to be termed rough, and not altogether without some 

 slight show of reason. Its glens are numerous and often 

 difficult to cross, its varied fences are usually built up 

 with sharp stones, and its soil owns quite as much tillage as 

 grass. 'Tis tempting Providence, or your banker, to ride 

 a fresh and valuable young horse over its face ; for the 

 chances are that sufficient practice to make him perfect 

 will also knock off half his value. During the progress of 

 education he is likely to have acquired as many scars as a 

 Hong-Kong dollar that has been through the hands of 

 the compradores. Fifty pounds should, I make bold to 

 assert, be held an outside price to pay for a horse to ride 

 over the Muskerry country — that sum probably represent- 

 ing more than his value after a season or two's experience 

 among the knife-like rocks of the district. The loth, 

 most of whom brought their studs from Tipperary, have 

 started with the very sensible plan of protecting their 

 hunters' legs with polo-boots. That this will be found 

 frequently effective I have grateful reason to know, even 

 from our brief gallop to overhaul hounds on Wednesday. 

 After twenty minutes of an easy wall-and-bank line from 

 St. Anne's northward, my mount, far too good-looking 

 and valuable for the occasion, had cut completely through 

 both leather and felt of the boot, leaving a mere scratch on 

 the off hind-leg, where, but for the guard, the fetlock might 

 have been well-nigh severed. 



But if the Muskerry country be like neither Leicester- 

 shire nor Tipperary, it is by no means without its advan- 

 tages. For instance, it can boast of quite fifty per cent, 

 more grass than Hants, Essex, or Norfolk. It is not 

 unduly difficult to cross, its tenantry preferring as a rule 

 the picturesque to the solid in their manner of fence- 

 keeping (let not this be supposed to apply to the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Ballincollig and Cork, where the mortar- 

 faced banks are awe-aspiring to a degree). 



Foxes have been found fairly plentiful ; indeed, I have 

 the authority of Mr. Hawke, the oldest sportsman of the 

 district, for saying that they are this year exceptionally 

 numerous. For myself, I saw a fine show at the coverts 



