4 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



rarely indeed touched by hounds, the country is, 

 like the rest of Devon, hilly. The enclosures are 

 small and separated from each other by banks. 

 These banks are for the most part big and broad, 

 giving a good foothold to the horse which does them 

 " in twice," jumping first to the top and then jump- 

 ing or sliding down. They have no ditch, and, as 

 they are often from four to six feet in width and 

 five or six or more feet in height, one wonders whence 

 came the material from which they are formed. 

 Some of them are stone-faced, and nearly all have 

 a thick hedge of hazel, beech, or other growiih on 

 the top, and they are formidable -looking obstacles 

 to those unaccustomed to this type of fence. On 

 the Moor there are no banks. All the fences there 

 are walls, built up of loose granite boulders and 

 stones. Most of them have a gap ; if there is none, 

 one is easily made by pushing off the smaller stones 

 which are always on the top. This may not sound 

 a very heroic proceeding, but it is rendered necessary 

 by the size of the walls themselves, the gradients 

 and the risk of landing on a heap of granite boulders. 

 Besides, we do not all ride three hundred guinea 

 hunters ! 



Taken as a whole, the country is a good scenting 

 one. The range of heath-covered hills known as 

 Haldon, before referred to, is an exception, the land 

 being poor and the reverse of good scenting. In- 

 cidentally, it is also, owing to the sharp flints and 

 the short dense gorse with which it is covered, 

 very trying to the feet of hounds. The popular idea 

 holds that Haldon never carries a scent except when 

 so wet that the water splashes up in a cloud over 

 the backs of the hounds as they run. This, like 

 most other theories in regard to scent, has been 



