262 HUNTING IN MANY COUNTRIES. 



country was the beist of the day. There was a delay of some- 

 thing like half an hour before the fox was bolted, and this 

 was really the only respite from hard going between half -past 

 ten and half-past five, and though this latter part of the hunt 

 was slower than the early part hounds were always driving 

 on, and when stopped they were many miles from where 

 the fox had bolted, the fox having worked right back to the 

 Severn Valley, some three to four miles west of the kennels, 

 whereas the hunt had begun some five or six miles north of the 

 kennels on the Machynlleth road. The wheel on the ordnanc© 

 map made out a. hunt of 28 miles, but, as I need hardly 

 write, thei wheel allows nothing for twisits and turns, nor for 

 contours, and I know that I am well within the mark when I 

 write that hounds covered five^and-thirty miles in the course of 

 the hvmt. Moreover, the fox eschewed the hills, which were 

 never far off, and kept in the lower ground all day, going round 

 or half round the base of several steep places without attempt- 

 ing to go up. During this long hunt Major Davies and ' ' Jack " 

 were always with hounds, and David Turner, first whipper-in, 

 stuck to it right to the end. Of ooursei second horses were used, 

 but every nag was done tO' a turn, and they would hardly ha,ve 

 lasted as they did had not the going been in perfect order, 

 neither hard nor deep, but with just the right amount of 

 spring in it. 



Since an account of the hunt appeared, in the Field 

 on Dec. 17, 1921, I have been several times asked 

 if 1 think Welsh hounds are better than English 

 hounds, and so I may state that I am strongly of 

 opinion that for all the ordinary English hunting countries 

 little or no fault can be found with the orthodox English sort, 

 but that Welsh — or cross-bred Welsh and English — are much 

 betiter in the hill countries, and I prefer the oioss-bred to the 

 pure Welsh, though on this particular point my opinion is not 

 worth much, for I have never seen a pack of purely Welsh 

 hounds in the field, and, as a matter of fact, I do not think 

 there are any packs of purely Welsh blood in existence. There 

 may bo one or two, but it is a general opinion — so far as I can 

 judge — throughout Wales that when Dr. David gave up the 

 Glog hounds the last really Welsh pack was disbanded. Much 

 of Dr. David's blood is at present in the kennel of Mr. Rees, 



