THE NEW TIMES, 1825— 1861. 49 



thfe main watershed. No horse, of course, could live 

 wij;h them through it, but on coming- up with them be- 

 yond " we found them very busy with something which 

 was at once pronounced to be the deer ; but deer in this 

 country do not die so easily. Upon getting to them 

 it was discovered to have been a. sheep, of which nothing 

 but the skin and horns were left. The hounds haying 

 thus in some measure gratified their appetite, to the 

 immense disgust (ludicrous as it was) of those who had 

 after great exertions reached them, quietly left the 

 ground in apparent triumph — up went their sterns, 

 'and on they went on the line of the deer." 



At the end of the season Mr. Bisset's misgivings 

 proved to be well founded. Little support was forth- 

 coming ; the landowners still held aloof, and only a 

 few enthusiastic farmers, together with the few original 

 supporters, remained constant to the cause. It is 

 surprising that in the face of so many difficulties Mr. 

 Bisset did not at once abandon the country in disgust, 

 but, fortunately for those who now reap the fruits of 

 all his hard work, he was a man of extraordinary gene- 

 rosity as well as patience and perseverance. He 

 decided to keep the hounds for another season, drafted 

 the whole of the pack excepting six couple, procured 

 twelve couple of Mr. Petre's staghounds, and, further 



E 



