TRAVELLING HOUNDS IN A CARAVAN. 177 



method of conveying the pack to cover, which has 

 since been adopted by other masters of hounds. It 

 is undoubtedly economical in the end, in the wear and 

 tear of hounds, as by thus saving them so many miles 

 of road work in bad weather, they will be enabled to 

 undergo an additional day's labour in each fortnight, 

 or even oftener; where the utmost distance to the 

 place of meeting does not exceed eleven or twelve 

 miles, it is of little consequence, but the constant habit 

 of travelling hounds a long way to cover in a 

 morning, and dragging them home in the dark, for 

 upwards of twenty miles, cuts them up, and jades 

 them infinitely more than most persons are aware 

 of. 



A huntsman should take especial care never to let 

 his hounds lie down, even for an instant, upon the 

 cold ground, particularly on their return from hunting ; 

 if it is very late, and necessary to call at any inn or 

 other place for gruel for the horses, the more advisable 

 plan is, if the distance from the kennel is very great, 

 and the hounds have had a hard day, to shut them up 

 in a clean stable or barn for five or ten minutes, and 

 to buy five or six large loaves of stale bread, which 

 may be cut into pieces, and distributed amongst them 

 as equally as possible. When the horses have finished 

 their gruel, a very small quantity of scalded meal and 

 milk, just sufficient for each hound to take six or seven 

 laps, should be mixed in several different pails, at certain 

 distances in the yard, and when the men are mounted 

 the hounds may be let out. By having it mixed in 

 several pails, they will be all more likely to come in for 

 a share. The good effects of this slender repast will be 



N 



