IN FRANCE 209 



together, whether in China, India, Australia, or South 

 Africa, there there will soon be a racecourse, to be 

 followed ere long, unless the nature of the country 

 forbids, by a pack of hounds of some kind. We are 

 apt to flatter ourselves that we alone of the nations of 

 the earth are sportsmen, and that foreigners, with the 

 possible exception of the Austrians, neither know nor 

 care anything about hunting. It will be news there- 

 fore to many, that there are over three hundred packs 

 of hounds in France, nearly as many as in England 

 and Wales, of which twenty- two hunt wild stags 

 exclusively, while another thirty-eight hunt both stags 

 and other game, such as wolf, boar, and roe. There 

 are thus sixty packs to our one kept in France, more 

 or less for stag-hunting. Their country is forest to a 

 large extent, so the harbourer does his work with a 

 lymer ; the hounds used are mostly crossbreds, 

 founded on the Saintonge or Poitou breeds, though in 

 some packs there is a strong contingent of foxhounds. 

 The number of hounds taken out is moderate, and the 

 system of posting relays all over the place, which was 

 carried to excess in the royal hunts of the eighteenth 

 century, has fallen into disrepute, though still prac- 

 .tised within moderate limits ; the young unentered 

 hounds being led about by an active man on foot, to 

 be uncoupled and shown their game at the finish, 



