Over water-courses now merrily trotting

Over water-courses now merrily trotting

So, up hill and down dale, over water-courses now merrily trotting, anon descending, and not less merrily trudging up, steep ascents we proceed by a track as sound as if it had been under the care of a model board of trustees for the simple reason that it rested on natural rock. We pushed along at an average rate of some six miles an hour, allowing for the slow crawling up hills; passing many rich fields wherein fat oxen of the Devon breed calmly grazed, with sheep that had certainly not been bred on mountains. Once we passed a deserted copper-mine; which, after having been worked for many years, had at length failed, or grown unprofitable, under the competition of the richer mines of Cuba and South Australia. A long chimney, peering above deserted cottages, and a plentiful crop of weeds, was the sole monument of departed glories in shares and dividends and mine-captain’s promises.

Fonte: Tamming Horses