Cuar. XII.] START FOR THE HILLS. 245 
morning early on a voyage of discovery. The hills 
were said to lie westerly, and in that direction I 
rode for eight or ten miles without seeing anything 
higher than a mound of earth. The compass was 
my only guide both in going and also in finding 
my way back again; the roads were generally not 
more than four or six feet wide, but still the 
country had its highways and byways, and for a 
length of time I was fortunate enough to keep on 
the former; as long as I did so, I got easily over 
the numerous canals which intersect the country 
in all directions, because wherever these are crossed 
by the main road, good substantial stone bridges 
are erected. At last I got a glimpse of the hills in 
the distance, and in my anxiety to take the shortest 
road, I lost sight of the highway, and got entangled 
amongst byways and canals. I was soon in a 
somewhat critical position, the bridges which I was 
constantly crossing were old, narrow, and rotten, 
and the feet of my pony were every now and then 
getting entangled between the planks. At length 
we came to one much worse than the others, and 
although I got off and did every thing to persuade 
the pony to follow me over it, with great reluctance 
he attempted to do so, but when about the centre 
of the bridge, his feet got fast in the rotten plank- 
ing, and in the struggle to free himself, the centre 
gave way; I had just time to spring to the bank, 
when the bridge and pony both fell into the canal. 
Luckily for me the poor animal swam to the side I 
was on, and allowed me to catch him when he got 
R 3 
