Devonshire 1 1 5 



reason was gone for paying no rent. An Irishman has 

 a wonderful knack of finding excuses, and when the first 

 tenant presented himself he pulled a longer face than ever, 

 declaring that now it was (luite, impossible to pay a bit of 

 rent at all. " Why, how is this," said his landlord, " have 

 not I drained all the land for you, and made it sound." 

 " Shure, your honour," replied Pat, " and that's the rason 

 of it. Begorra the eels paid the rint before, and now 

 your honour has drained the land, sorra an eel is ivir 

 seen ! " 



Devonshire was a great country for vipers, and they 

 were particularly fond of lying coiled up on a bank 

 sunning themselves, just where there was a weak place 

 in the fence, at the very spot most convenient for getting 

 over. It was necessary, therefore, before laying a hand 

 upon the bank to look closely, lest a viper should be 

 there, for they did not always move away when 

 approached. It was quite a common thing to shoot 

 them, when thus taking a siesta. I once saw two 

 coiled in an embrace, when walking over to Maristow 

 from Staddon Heights, on a Sunday afternoon. Un- 

 fortunately we had some terriers with us, and when they 

 saw my companion and me stop, they rushed up to see 

 what was going on, and we were obliged to kill the snakes 

 to save the dogs. The navvies were then still engaged in 

 building the fort at Staddon, and a camp was pitched there 

 every summer for musketry. Our only water supply was 

 from a well, and as the water began to be very disagree- 

 able, an investigation was made, when it was discovered 

 that one of the navvies had thrown a dead duck into the 

 well some time before. Though they had all been aware 

 of it, they had still continued to use the water, and had 



