POACHING. 253 



and small fanners to whom the Enoiish language 

 is an miknown tongue. Such, however, is the 

 fact, beyond cavil or dispute, and a very unpleasant 

 fact for an Englishman to discover when losing his 

 way amongst these mountains. I have during my 

 rambles through the country met with numbers to 

 whom I could only make known by signs and 

 gestures my wants and wishes ; for to all my in- 

 quiries one answer alone was returned — " Dim 

 S'.ssanach," which means, " No English." 



The original Welsh people are decidedly a fine 

 race of men, with powerful frames, of simple 

 habits and hardy constitutions, invigorated, no 

 doubt, by their mountain breezes, and particularly 

 partial to field sports. I was out sporting one 

 day with a friend, who, having killed a hare in the 

 presence of the occupier of the land, desired his 

 keeper, a Welshman, to hand it to the farmer, 

 who, on taking it, gave us to understand that, 

 although much obliged, he would rather have seen 

 the hare alive running before the hounds. 



Where game is not strictly preserved, poaching 

 is of course carried on to a considerable extent, yet 

 not on the large scale practised in England ; as a 

 proof of which, partridges are more abundant even 

 on unprotected lands there than in many of the 

 best EngHsh manors ; in fact, the nature of the 



