158 THE SOUTH DEVON HUNT 



men settled the question, and they determined that 

 the country must be hunted in future. Accordingly 

 the subject was broached at a meeting held at Exeter 

 on the 22nd April to make arrangements for the 

 following season, and, at an adjournment thereof 

 held three weeks later after a meeting of those inter- 

 ested east of the Exe had taken place in the interim 

 at Exmouth, Mr. Studd consented to continue on a 

 subscription of £600 and to hunt each side of the 

 Exe one day a week, putting in a third day if a 

 further sum of a hundred pounds was forthcoming. 



True to his promise, for the next three seasons IVIr. 

 Studd hunted the country east of the Exe one day 

 a week and sometimes three days a fortnight. The 

 undertaking was a formidable one, for the working 

 up of a new country is always a laborious matter, and, 

 notwithstanding the goodwill of the large landowners 

 and the support of the tenant farmers, it was im- 

 possible to expect a sufficient stock of foxes for the 

 first season or two in a country which, report says, 

 had not been hunted for fifty years. In parts near the 

 coast, too, the foxes clung to the cliffs, so that from 

 time to time it was necessary to devote a morning on 

 foot to rattling them with a few couple of hounds, 

 and even this did not always have the desired effect 

 of scattering them inland. In addition, the distances 

 were often great, especially for such fixtures as 

 Hembury Fort, Escot, Cadhay Bog, The Grange and 

 Sidmouth Junction ; and, wherever the pack met, 

 it was always necessary both in going and returning 

 to go round by Countess Weir Bridge, which forms the 

 southernmost crossing of the river Exe. All this 

 entailed considerable wear and tear on hounds, 

 horses and men. Few men with enough country 

 nearer home would have had the energy and public 



