THE BIVOUAC. 125 



with difficulty to our outspanning-place for the night. 

 We were welcomed by the Dutchmen, in whose estima- 

 tion I found myself considerably advanced. They could 

 not, however, imagine for what reason I had brought the 

 head and horns, and I found great difficulty in making 

 them comprehend that they were considered as orna- 

 ments in England and were also rarities. They inquired 

 if we had no elands in that land, and seemed to think 

 it a very poor place where no large game was to be 

 found. 



I tried to explain to them the glories of a good run 

 with hounds across a grass country sprinkled with pretty 

 stiff fences, but they could not realize its beauties. 

 And when I told them that foxes were preserved merely 

 for the sake of being hunted, they actually roared with 

 laughter, and assured me that they could not live or breathe 

 in a country so destitute of game, or be happy or feel 

 free unless they knew that at least one hundred miles of 

 open country were around them, about which they might 

 ride, shoot, or live, just as they liked. 



I explained to them the manner in which England was 

 cut up by roads, and that no one was allowed to go out of 

 these roads and ride over the country just as he might 

 like; and that if he did by chance do so, he would pro- 

 bably be prosecuted for a trespass. In order to prevent 

 any such contingency, I told them boards were always 

 stuck up near any pretty wood or nice places, marked 

 in large letters, " Trespassers beware/' or, te Any person 

 found on these grounds will be prosecuted." This relation 

 made them almost furious, and they allowed their spleen 



