The visitor should descend in the direction of Goodameavy, and thence follow down the river that abounds in beautiful scenes. It was formerly believed that a wild hunter appeared on the summit of Dewerstone, attended by his black dogs, blowing a horn. From Dewerstone the visitor may walk to Bickleigh Station, and take the train for Tavistock, which I have written about in my _Book of the West_, and will not re-describe in the present work.
[21] I have given it, with the original air, in the _Garland of Country Song_. Methuen.
[22] Slightly curtailed from W. F. COLLIER, _Country Matters in Short_. Duckworth, London, 1899.
A filled-up lake-bed--Stannon--The great central trackway--Destruction of monuments--Cyclopean bridge--Blowing-house--Another up the river--Cut Hill--The Jack-o'-lantern--The maid and the lantern--Gathering lichens--Dyes--The coral moss--Birds--The cuckoo--The wren--Rooks and daddy longlegs--The Lych Way--Bellever Tor.
A colony about a school-chapel and a few deformed beech trees in a basin among tors constitute Post Bridge.
Here the East Dart flows through a filled-up lake-bed, and passes away by a narrow cleft that it has sawn for itself through the granite.
The beech trees were planted at the same time that two lodges were erected by a gentleman called Hullett, who was induced to believe that he could convert a portion of Dartmoor into paradise. He purposed building a mansion at Stannon, and actually began the house. But by the time the lodges were set up and a wing of his house, he had discovered that Dartmoor would spell ruin, and he threw up his attempt. And Dartmoor will spell ruin unless approached and treated in the only suitable manner. It will pasture cattle and feed ponies and sheep, but it will never grow corn and roots.
The great central causeway crossed the modern road near the Dissenting chapel, and may be traced in the marsh aiming for the river, beyond which it ascends the hill and strikes along the brow behind Archerton. It is paved, and is a continuation of the old Fosse Way. It is certainly not Roman work, but British.
Post Bridge has been termed, not accurately, a prehistoric metropolis of the moor. This is because round the ancient lake-bed were numerous pounds containing hut circles. Most of these have now been destroyed, yet one remains perfect--Broadun; and adjoining it is Broadun Ring, where the outer circle of the inclosure has been pulled down, but a considerable number of the huts has been spared. There remain indications of fifteen of these inclosures. More have certainly been destroyed.