that county a more vivid
personality, so to speak, than most others. Think of Kent with its white
cliffs, chalk downs, and dull-coloured clays in this connection!

The humble subterraneous mole proves himself on occasions a good
colourist when he finds a soil of the proper hue to burrow in, and the
hillocks he throws up from numberless irregular splashes of bright
red colour on a green sward. The wild animals that strike us as most
beautiful, when seen against a green background, are those which bear
the reddest fur--fox, squirrel, and red deer. One day, in a meadow a
few miles from Abbotsbury, I came upon a herd of about fifty milch cows
scattered over a considerable space of ground, some lying down, others
standing ruminating, and still others moving about and cropping the long
flowery grasses. All were of that fine rich red colour frequently seen
in Dorset and Devon cattle, which is brighter than the reds of other red
animals in this country, wild and domestic, with the sole exception of
a rare variety of the collie dog. The Irish setter and red chouchou come
near it. So beautiful did these red cows look in the meadow that I stood
still for half an hour feasting my eyes on the sight.

No less was the pleasure I experienced when I caught sight of that road
winding over the hill above the village. On going to it I found that it
had looked as red as rust simply because it was rust-earth made rich
and beautiful in colour with iron, its red hue variegated with veins and
streaks of deep purple or violet. I was told that there were hundreds of
acres of this earth all round the place--earth so rich in iron that many
a man's mouth had watered at the sight of it; also that every effort had
been made to induce the owner of Abbotsbury to allow this rich mine to
be worked. But, wonderful to relate, he had not been persuaded.

A hard fragment of the red stuff, measuring a couple of inches across
and weighing about three ounces avoirdupois, rust-red in colour with
purple streaks and yellow mottlings, is now lying before me. The
mineralogist would tell me that its commercial value is naught, or
something infinitesimal; which is doubtless true enough, as tens of
thousands of tons of the same material lie close to the surface under
the green turf and golden blossoming furze at the spot where I picked up
my specimen. The lapidary would not look at it; nevertheless, it is the
only article of jewellery I possess, and I value it accordi