THE SANDHILLS 185 



nature. A large part of the ground is here well wooded ; the 

 trees do not, however, appear likely ever to come to a large size, 

 well as they flourish when young. This district of wood and 

 heath is here and there intersected by nearly impassable swamps, 

 the abode of mallards and teal, and occasionally of geese. In 

 the wooded parts are plenty of roe, who feed about the swamps, 

 and in the warm weather lie like hares on the hillocks covered 

 with long heath, and under the stunted fir-trees in the midst of 

 the wet places. Throughout the whole tract of this wild ground 

 there are great numbers of foxes, who live undisturbed, and 

 grow to a very great size ; feeding during the season on young 

 roe, wild ducks, and black game ; and when these fail, they 

 make great havoc amongst the game, poultry, and rabbits in 

 the adjoining country. I have frequently started and shot a 

 fox here out of the rough heather, when I have been looking 

 for wild ducks, or passing through the place on my way to the 

 sea-shore. Farther westward, the sandhills are bounded, by a 

 large extent of marsh and water, terminating at last in an 

 extensive lake, dreary and cold-looking, the resort of wild-fowl 

 of every kind, from the swan to the teal, but said to contain 

 no fish excepting eels. 



I never yet could get a good account of the origin of these 

 sandhills ; I say origin, because they are evidently of a more 

 recent formation than any of the surrounding land. In several 

 places, where the sand is blown off, you see the remains of 

 cultivated ground, the land below the sand being laid out in 

 regular furrows and ridges, made by the plough ; and, from 

 their regularity and evenness, one would suppose that agriculture 

 must have been well advanced when these lands were in 

 cultivation. Did the covering that now conceals these fields 

 consist wholly of sand, one would agree with the popular story 

 of their having been overwhelmed with it by the wind ; but in 

 some parts the ground is covered to a good depth by shingle 

 and water-worn stones of a size to preclude the possibility of 

 their having been brought there by the action of the wind. In 

 certain places, too, there are curious regularly-formed pyramids 

 of shingle, about sixteen feet high, and of the same diameter at 

 the base. These, and long banks of shingle, having exactly 

 the appearance of the sea-beach, make me suppose that the 

 destruction of what was once a fertile country was brought 



