83 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



that there can be no difficulty in walking or riding over them. 

 But on going towards hills which seem only a mile or two away 

 the table-land sinks in a deep coombe, which has to be descended 

 and reascended, and the sides are high and steep. Presently 

 another coombe intervenes, and after five or six miles' walking 

 very little progress seems to have been made. At last the slope 

 of the hill is reached, and has now expanded into a mountainous 

 ascent, not to be overcome without much labour and more time. 



The country is in fact very deceptive, much wider and much 

 more difficult than it looks. Tlie expanse confuses the eye, and 

 will not allow it to judge distances. The illusion is assisted by 

 the smooth outline of the moors without a fence for miles 

 together, and without a visible tree ; for the covers are in the 

 coombes, and there are few or no copses on the hills. Nothing 

 breaks up the surface and measures the view. Heather covers 

 the largest part of the ground, which is never ploughed or sown, 

 and where there are no flower-grown meads. One vast breadth 

 of open, wild, and treeless country reaches in every direction, 

 and it is at once obvious why the deer have remained at large 

 since the earliest times, for the land is in the same condition 

 as it was centuries ago. The plough has not touched it, and 

 civilization has not come near. 



The questions naturally arise. Why has Exmoor remained in 

 this condition uncultivated for so many centuries ? Why does it 

 still defy agriculture and improvement ? These questions have 

 been asked and answered in a very pleasantly-written volume* 

 recently published by Mr. Richard Jefferies, the author of ' Wild 

 Life in a Southern County,' ' The Gamekeeper at Home,' and 

 other works, which have been already noticed in the pages of 

 this Journal. According to this author, three impedimentary 

 causes present themselves — the nature of tlie soil, the cost of 

 labour, and the character of the climate. 



The soil, he says, consists of a black friable peat, in some 

 places deep, in others shallow. Under a hot sun it becomes dry, 

 but during the winter, and indeed for the greater part of the year, 

 it is soft and watery. Bogs are numerous, jnd springy places 

 that are almost bogs. Labour must first be expended in clearing 



* ' Eed Deer,' by Rieharcl Jefferies. Post 8vo, pp. 207, London : Long- 

 mans, Greeu & Co. 1884. 



