52 
PEENY COMBES. 
that they (the horses, not the parsons,) had eaten 
his last feed of corn ; and that in short he could 
render us no further assistance than unharnessing 
our horse and tying him to a gate. 
We reharnessed our half-freed horse, who having 
calculated on a luncheon was thoroughly disgusted, 
and proceeded, not knowing where we should rest. 
The road would have astonished M‘Adam ; in- 
deed all the roads hereabouts are somewhat mar- 
vellous. Great projections of granite start up in 
unexpected positions ; sometimes in front of your 
horse, who has to exalt his legs in an extraordi- 
nary manner to get clear of them, sometimes where 
the wheels of your carriage would go if they were 
able. At length, after many meanderings, during 
which we obtained some magnificent specimens of 
Aspleniim lanceolatum^^ we reached the bottom of 
the hiU, when to our great joy we beheld a miU. 
“ Surely a mill must contain something farina- 
ceous!” We went in search of the miller, whom 
after some time we discovered busily engaged crack- 
ing nuts. He had some barley-meal and a stable, 
and was a good-natured feUow, so matters were 
arranged amid incessant cracking of nuts. 
We proceeded on foot up the valley to Shaugh 
Bridge, just above which the Cad and Meavy join 
* Plate III. Fig. 1. 
