NO MAN'S LAND. 177 



in their perfection of autumn's shades and tones of 

 colouring. An American friend who was lately here 

 with me, as he looked over the splendid scene, said, 

 " This is Indian summer in all its glory ! " 



The trees begin to thin off, and wild scrub takes 

 their place. There is furze of the common sort, and 

 the dwarf variety ; also heath, brambles, and sloe 

 bushes, locally termed pickets. Firs take the place 

 of oak, ash, and beech ; and the bracken is thin. 

 As we jog on, we leave the common behind us and 

 reach the edge of No Man's Land. Here you are 

 alone, and you feel it. Strange that in two hours 

 one can pass from London, with all its vast popula- 

 tion and busy hum of life, its aggregation of wealth, 

 and of human passions noble and vicious, into a 

 land of silence, and, in some parts, of desolation. 

 The people who are scattered here and there seem 

 to belong to a different race from ours, and to speak 

 a dialect peculiar to themselves. If you should 

 chance — I use this word advisedly — to meet a 

 human being, you may speak as plainly and as de- 

 liberately as you possibly can, yet in nine cases out of 

 ten you will be obliged to repeat your question twice 

 or thrice before the rustic will grasp your meaning. 



M 



