The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-09 00:00:00

rise at cock-crow, and follow him throughout the
day. Certainly the object in these excursions has
not exactly been the destruction of the extirpator
of fish.

The Cornish rivers, and indeed most of the De-
vonshire ones, have become of late years so impreg-
nated with matter destructive to animal, and too
often also to vegetable life, that the otter has been
compelled to seek " fresh fields and pastures new."
In Cornwall the very best river in former times, in
the whole country for trout, and therefore for otter-
hunting, has, from the increase of mines in the dis-
trict, been utterly ruined for all purposes of sport.
The copper mines are the real enemies, for they
contribute the destructive matter ; but the tin and
silver mines are not entirely blameless ; for by their
deposit, although harmless in itself, they cause the
overflowing of the obnoxious matter, and the conse-
quence is that not only are the fish utterly annihi-
lated, but the vegetation all around the bank of a
meandering stream destroyed. The Seaton river,
which is one of the most circuitous in the county of
Cornwall, and was once distinguished for its mul-
titudes of trout, and certainly as a " find" for an
otter, affords an exemplification of this fact. After
receiving the " washings," or rather " dressings" of
the great Caradon copper mines, and consequently
becoming poisoned with the horrid mundic and re-
fuse, she has now to carry with her to the sea the
additional cargo of the lead and silver mines
" washings" of Menheniot.
A more wretched or miserable looking vale can
scarcely be imagined than this, as far as the course
of the river is concerned ; and it looks verily as if an
army of Turks had devastated the plain, and verified
the old Eastern boast that " the grass never grows
where the Turk has once trod." This used to be
one of the very best meets, and so lovely was the
vale, and the scenery on either side, that the con-
templation of its beauty was almost of itself suffi-
cient compensation when sport was bad. One can
hardly fail to be reminded here of the peculiar ap-
propriateness of Bryant's lines (a translation by the
way from the German)—.

Stay, rivulet, nor haste to leave,
The lovely vale that lies around thee;
Why would'st thou be a sea at eve,
When but a fount the morning found thee ?"

in the north of Devon the preservation of fish is
of vastly more importance, and is observed with much
more vigour. The dogs for the most part used now-
a-days are used-up foxhounds, who in their old
years take to otter-hunting with surprising alacrity
and gusto; but the appearance of the in-and-in bred
old-fashioned otter-hound is veryrare. The mephitic
nature of the otter is doubtless agreat inducement to
the old foxhound (when in due time he has learnt
that his business is future is not on " land and
water" as before, but mainly and almost entirely in
the latter element), to take so readily to the new sport.
The scent of the otter is unquestionably more
powerful than that of the fox, and the manner in
which hounds will wind him from afar is extraor-
dinary.
In the North, and especially in Cumberland, is the

sport still followed with much eagerness; and here
we find the old otter-hound race yet in tolerable
force. It was only lately, at the Waterloo Coursing
Meeting, that an enthusiastic sportsman, who has
in his time enjoyed almost every class of sport, and
who now keeps a pack of genuine otter-hounds in
the North, assured us that he had experienced ne
such excitement in any other branch of sport. Of
the method of pursuit, and of some good days ill
this time-honoured British sport, both past and to
come, we shall trust to give, as occasion may offer
and space permit, short accounts. We feel per-
suaded that many a gentleman, now falling into the
" sere and yellow leaf," will be delighted to heat
and to read particulars of that sport in which they,
in their more youthful days, so much delighted, and
to the ardent pursuit of which they have to attribute
certain admonitory twinges. Sic transit gloria
undi.m—Land and Water.

COUNTRY MARKETS.