THE DOMAIN OF THE RED DEER. 3 



cradle of the Bassets, among the oldest of Devon 

 families. Lower down the stream, but on the oppo- 

 site or northern bank, is Hall, the home of one of 

 the many lines of Chichesters. Rather further north- 

 ward again, in the west valley, is the cradle of the 

 Aclands ; beyond that, distant a few miles, is Youlston, 

 seat of another line of Chichesters ; and still further 

 northward, on the skirts of the moor, is Arlington, with 

 yet another family of the same house. For there are 

 plenty of Chichesters left in Devon, over and above 

 those that went to Ireland, as so many cadets of the 

 Devon families did, in Queen Elizabeth's time. 



But, returning to the Taw, whence come the deer to 

 its wooded banks ? Exmoor is surely far away ; and, 

 again, what is Exmoor? Let us follow up the Mole 

 from its junction, and that will take us where we want. 

 A merry brawling mountain stream it is, overhung 

 with great woods of oak coppice almost continuously 

 on one side or the other for many a mile. A beautiful 

 valley, too, narrowing sometimes till the woods almost 

 meet on the two sides, but again widening, and always 

 giving space enough for throwing a fly. After some 

 five or six miles travelling up it, always northward, the 

 river splits in two. The left branch as we go upward 

 is called the Bray, the right branch as heretofore the 



B 2 



