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THE FERN PARADISE. 
near Horseman’s Steps, a solitary cottage, perclied 
in a charming nook. Close by the cottage walls 
the North Bovey River, pent into a narrow bed, 
roars over the big boulders that choke up its 
course. Here we have the charming combination 
of waterfall, cascade, and silent pool. The huge 
masses of granite which lie along the course of 
this stream, are in many places delightfully car¬ 
peted with moss, whose deep and light-green 
colouring looks charmingly fresh where the limpid 
water flows over or near it. A short distance 
from this spot are the far-famed Horseman’s 
Steps. The narrow course of the North Bovey 
River is here completely blocked up by enormous 
masses of granite, and we can only see the stream 
by peering down between interstices in the rocks ; 
but we can hear it thundering along in its almost 
subterranean channel. A small tract of marsh 
land intervenes between Horseman’s Steps and 
Lustleigh Cleave; and there we found, along by 
the course of the North Bovey River, numbers of 
the Mountain Buckler Fern, the Hard Fern, the 
Lady Fern, the Male Fern, the Broad Buckler 
Fern, and others. In this district is to be found 
