13GOKS.
ROWE'S DARTMOOR.* Ir the reader take up a map of England, he will see Plymouth occupy- ing the South-western corner of Devonshire; Tavistock will be descried some twelve miles inland in an almost perpendicular direction ; Okehamp- ton will be traced about as many miles from Tavistock as Tavistock is from Plymouth, with a slight Easterly bearing from a true Northern line; while Ashburton lies East from Tavistock with a little inclination towards the South. These towns form a loose boundary of the table-land on which grows or grew the forest of Dartmoor, one of the most curious though little-frequented districts in the kingdom. The stony, unfruitful nature of the soil—the obstacles opposed to comfortable travelling, by marshes, watercourses, alternate hill and dale, with a climate wet and comparatively cold—have prevented cultivation, repelled tourists, left many parts of the district in a primeval condition, and thus pre- served the curious remains of antiquity with which the locality is studded. Some antiquarians, connecting the region with the tin trade and religion of Tyre, ascribe to part of these antiquities a very remote age and an Oriental origin. There is no doubt that within a square of twenty miles almost every description of ruin, whether called Druidical, British, Celtic, or Cyclopean, may be found, and frequently in a good state of preservation. The circular temple, the stone avenue, the cromlech, the barrow and cairn, the rock pillar, the forts and intrenchments, with other antiquities Aiefly interesting to the archmologist, may be met with in comparative plenty. The foundations and stone-work of our aboriginal ancestors' huts or dwellings, the track-ways or roads of the ancient Bri- tons before Caesar came amongst them, and their track-lines or boundary- banks, have a more general and living interest. The bridges are still more interesting, for the durability of their structure, the proof they exhibit of the application of considerable mechanical power to purposes of general utility, (not always exhibited in Cyclopean monuments,) and for their complete preservation even to this day.
'In a region such as Dartmoor, intersected by rivers and brooks in all direc-
tions, and those streams so peculiarly liable to be swollen by summer torrents, and by the thawing of the accumulated snows of winter, the progress of the track- ways would be continually interrupted by these natural and formidable obstacles. In some instances, they may be found pointing to a ford, as would appear to be the case with the grand central road, below Chittaford Down ; but as the East Dart would frequently become impassable at that ford, the necessities of the case would task the ingenuity of the earliest inhabitants in contriving the erection of a bridge. Happily the materials, which lay at hand, when such a necessity arose to a pri- mitive people, were of a more durable kind than the felled tree, which in more wooded districts forms a ready and not inconvenient bridge. Vast slabs of granite afforded the means of constructing solid piers, by being merely laid one upon another, yet stable enough, without cement or other adventitious appliances, to breast the impetuous rush of the moorland torrents. The necessity of arching was obviated, by massive imposts of A tabular form, laid horizontally from pier to pier.
" Adjoining Post Bridge (a modern county bridge over the East Dart, tra-
versed by the Tavistock and Moreton road) stands one of these venerable and characteristic relics of aboriginal times, presenting a truly interesting specimen of primitive Cyclopean architecture. The piers are three, and these with the abut- ments form four sufficient openings for the waterway. Its construction, though rode, is of the most durable kind. No structure of ordinary stability could have withstood the fury of the vehement Dart in his most turbulent moods for twenty or thirty centuries. The piers consist of six layers of granite slabs above the foundation. The superincambent stones are singularly adapted for the purpose to which they are applied. The centre opening is narrower than the side open- ings. The imposts here were two; (one of these, by accident or design, has been displaced, and lies in the bed of the river. These stones in general are about fifteen feet long and six wide; and thus a roadway was made over which even the seithed chariot of the Danmonian warrior might pass the river in safety."
But the march of mechanics seems about to disturb the quiet and solitude of several thousand years. " Quarries are opened on the heights of Dartmoor, powder-mills are projected in the very heart of its solitudes, cultivation is smiting its corners ; steam is marshalling his chariots of iron and coursers of fire panting to penetrate its fastnesses ; and the most interesting vestiges of antiquity are in hourly danger of de- struction. An account of the district which contains them (in a more systematic form than has yet been attempted) may at least preserve their memory, or perhaps, more happily, may be the means of rescuing them from the impending assaults of the mason's hammer and the excavator's pick, and of perpetuating their existence by pointing out their claims to the protection of all who feel becoming interest in the history of their country and of mankind."
The book in which Mr. Rowe thus undertakes to bring Dartmoor, its scenery, and antiquities, before the world, has been of slow growth. In 1828 a paper on the subject was read before the Plymouth Institution, to which Mr. Rowe was a contributor. That essay has formed the germ of the present volume; which has reached its present extent by gradual but con- tinual accretion of matter, from the author's own inquiries or the contri- butions of friends. The result is a topographical work of much spirit and lore, if a little too much of eloquence at times. The book consists of three parts. The first is a general account of the natural features and antiquities of the district, arranged under their re- spective heads, and combined with some archaeological discussion. The second is an itinerary, or " perambulation" proper ; the author di- siding the country into districts, and carefully going over each, pointing attention to any natural or artificial object worth examining, and im- parting all the information we look for in a guide. The third section consists of the geology, botany, and ornithology of Dartmoor, with char- ters and a variety of other documents relating to its history. An elabo- rate map and several views accompany and illustrate the text.
Thorough is the characteristic of the volume. There may be digres- sion in one place, minuteness in another ; and the topographical per- ambulation, from the nature of its subject, may strain the attention un- less the reader is familiar with the places, or is using the work with the *A Perambulation of the Ancient and Royal Forest of Dartmoor- By Samuel Howe, M.A., Vicar of Crofton, Devon. Published by Hamilton and Adams.
object for which it is well intended--:a tourist's guide to the scenes it describes ; but the enumeration of particulars and the description of ob- jects is complete. With this work on his table, the reader may make himself familiar with a region which was evidently a stronghold of our Druidical ancestors, or use it as a vade-mecum in a good-sized coat- pocket during his actual exploration.
At the same time, the travelling public should be warned that Dart- moor is not altogether a country for tourists in kid gloves and French polished boots. Some of the antiquities, indeed, are near the turnpike roads that run through the district, but others are situated in the wilder regions remote from roads of any kind, while some of the natural objects of curiosity are inaccessible except to a good pedestrian. This is the cha- racter of country where most of the numerous rivers or rivulets of the district take their rise. The traveller is supposed to be in search of Cranmere Pool, whence the Okement issues ; and the lover of wild scenery would perhaps not find wilder at the source of the Nile.
" Somewhat beyond the farthest point of the turf-cutters' operations, the ap- proach to Cranmere may be made on horseback without difficulty. The tourist will find himself on the borders of the vast expanse of boggy table-land which characterizes the remotest and most inaccessible parts of the moorland wilderness. If he has penetrated thus far by the aid of a Dartmoor pony, he will find it pru- dent to take advantage of the rude but which the turf-cutters have raised for temporary shelter against the war of elements ' in this wild spot—to leave his horse, and pursue his toilsome way on foot towards Cranmere Pool. The way in itself is toilsome, as you are continually plunging into the plashy soil, or, to avoid getting knee-deep in the bogs, are constrained to leap from turf to turf of the firmer patches of rushy ground. Nor is there anything in the surrounding scenery to cheer the wanderer who requires a succession of new and attractive objects to animate him in his progress. Here the image of 'a waste and howl- ing wilderness' is fully realized. Glance where it may, the same slightly un- dulating but unvarying surface of heath, common, and morass, presents itself to the eye. Scarcely even a granite block on the plain orator on the higher ground `breaks the deep-felt monotony' of the scene. Yet in this very monotony there is a charm, for it gives birth to a feeling that you are now in the domains of primaeval nature, and that this is one of the few spots where no indications of man's presence or occupancy are to be traced. The few sounds that, at long in- vervals, disturb the brooding silence of the desert,—the plaintive cry of the curlew, or the whirring rustle of the heath-fowl, roused by the explorer's un- expected tread,—the sighing wind, suddenly wrapping him perhaps in a mist- wreath, or the feeble tinklings of the infant streamlets—for we are now amidst the fountains of the Dartmoor rivers,—are all characteristic of the scene; and wild, remote, and solitary as it is, this central morass is thus associated with the richest, most populous, and loveliest spots of our fair and fertile Devon."
The town of Chagford, which Mr. Rowe recommends to the tourist as a head-quarters while exploring the Northern part of the district, on ac- count of its favourable position and a comfortable inn, is equally curious in its way.
" Chagford itself, as an ancient stannary and market-town' built on a pleasing acclivity, backed by the lofty eminence of Middledown with its jagged crest, a prominent outpost of the granite range, with the moor stretching away indefi- nitely in the distance,-and the diversified vale of the Teigu directly in front, is well worthy of a Visit. It presents some of the most interesting characteristics of our moorland border-towns. There is an air of picturesque informality in its general appearance. Many of the houses are of moor-stone, grey, ancient-looking, substantial; some with projecting porches and parvise-room over, and granite mullioned windows, like the hostelry already commemorated; while a perennial. stream, fresh from the neighbouring Bills, and clear as that which flowed from the Blandusian fount, speeds vivaciously along the principal street, through a clean moor-stone channel. The church, substantially built of native granite, with its sturdy steeple of the same durable material, embattled porch with granite groined vault springing from low columns with Norman-looking capitals, appropriately forms the central and principal object among the simple buildings of this quiet re- tired border-town. The quaint little market-place is in perfect keeping with the accompanying features of the scene. Standing apart from any great thorough- fare, the echoes of the Chagford hills are never awakened by the 'twanging horn,' nor its streets roused by the rattle of the stage-coach or royal mail. At the door of the Three Crowns a post-chaise is still, in the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury, enough of a phamomenon to collect a group of rustic gazers. The public conveyance which maintains a periodical intercourse with Exeter has not yet been dignified with the elegant euphuism of omnibus. The carriage-road from More- ton to Okehampton and the North of Devon passes over Rushford Bridge, about a mile from the town; but the roads and lanes leading to the adjacent parishes, hamlets, farms, and commons, are for the most part so steep and rugged as to be ill-adapted for any vehicles where springs form an integral requisite in the con- struction. Accordingly, the methods of conveyance and transit partake of the olden times, and are characteristic alike of the country and the inhabitants. Breasting a formidable ascent on the South, the road to Ashburton is much better adapted to the packhorse of the last century than to the carts or waggons of the present day ; while the upland track, which the Western traveller, to his no small wonder, is admonished by a timely finger-post to follow, as the road to Tavistock, scales a precipitous hill, and would have been far more suited to the wary paces of the palfrey of the abbot of that ancient borough in bygone days than to the poles and springs of the broughams and britskas of modern times. Instead of the convenient market-ear of the lowlands, we therefore observe without surprise that panniers maintain the ascendancy with the rustic dames of the neighbour- hood; and the phmnomenon of a double horse, with saddle and pad, or even the antiquarian curiosity of a pillion, may still be met with in the rugged and narrow byways of a district where rural manners and old world customs still linger and find an asylum, which modern fashions render every day more precarious and un- tenable. Among the patriarchs of the hills, the straight-breasted blue coat, (the relic and memorial of the 'prentice snit or the wedding garments,) made before the revolutionary innovation of lappets had been imported from Republican France, may still be seen, with (but a much rarer occurrence) the shoe fastened with buckle and strap."
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