A Chat with Sam Hills 101 



Many men, by the by, who have come from a flat 

 country to hunt in Surrey have found these hills a difficulty 

 at first. Tremors assailed them at the prospect of dashing 

 down a sort of precipice as if there were nuggets being 

 given away at the bottom. But one soon gets used to 

 even that method of progression. Horses are not slow 

 to acquire the necessary facility. Their riders may have 

 to harden their hearts during the initial stages of the 

 descent, for courage may be a little tried in this relation. 



Pursuing his reminiscent vein, Sam Hills mentioned 

 that years ago the natural supply of strong wild foxes was 

 adequate in Surrey. Now, as he says, things are rather 

 different, certainly not brighter, in that respect. 



" During the last two or three seasons," he averred, 

 " when I was with the hounds we killed sixteen or 

 seventeen brace of foxes. Thirty or forty years ago we 

 used to kill about twenty-five and thirty brace. Curiously, 

 in my first season I killed the most, namely, thirty-two 

 brace, which was a record." 



In those good old times, too, the Old Surrey hounds 

 were sometimes hunting four days a week. They indulged 

 in the luxury of a bye day pretty frequently. There was 

 plenty of country, a sufficiency of foxes, and any number 

 of keen sportsmen — emphatically the " right sort." At 

 the present period many parts of the country, formerly 

 excellent to ride over, are not available for that purpose ; 

 the causes of such change having been already specified. 

 Those causes continue to make their influence steadily 

 felt ; they may become more potent ; and the results are 



