So much for the tripper. I do not in the least suppose any of this race will see more of my book than the outside. But I write this for the intelligent visitor, to warn him against Hawns and Dendles on Plymouth early closing day (Wednesday) in summer. Wisdome is the ancestral house of the Rogers family, of which the late Lord Blachford was the representative. It is a modest, picturesque old moorland mansion of a small gentle family. Slade, on the other hand, must have been a house of consequence; it still possesses a noble hall, with richly carved oak wainscotting. Steart has handsome carved armorial gates; and Fardell is remarkable as a home of the Raleigh family, and had its licensed chapel. The grandfather of the navigator lived at Fardell, and Sir Walter himself was probably there much in his early days. Here was found an ogham inscription on a stone, now in the British Museum, which shows that the Irish had conquered and colonised Devon as far south as Cornwood. Other oghams have been found at Tavistock, and at Lewannick, near Launceston. According to local belief, the stone indicated where treasure was hid; and a jingle was current in the neighbourhood:-- "Between this stone and Fardell Hall Lies as much money as the devil can haul." The stone bore the inscription, "Fanonii Macquisini" on one side, and "Sapanni" on the other. The "Mac" in the name is conclusively Irish, as also the oghams. FOOTNOTES: [18] CROSSING, _Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor_, p. 15. [19] I have told her story in full in _Historic Oddities and Strange Events_. Methuen and Co., 1889. [20] This is the scene chosen by me for my story _Guavas the Tinner_. CHAPTER XV. YELVERTON Yelverton or Elford-town--Longstone--The Elfords--"The Silly Doe"--Mr. Collier on otter-hunting--Sheeps Tor church--The reservoir--The old vicarage--The Bull-ring--Rajah Brooke--Roman's Cross--The Deancombe valley--Coaches--Down Tor stone row--Nun's Cross--Roundy Farm--Clakeywell Pool--Strange voices--Leather Tor--Drizzlecombe and its remains--Old customs at Sheeps Tor--Meavy--Church--Marchant's Cross--China-clay and William Cookworthy--The Dewerstone--The Wild Huntsman--Tavistock. Yelverton is a corruption of Elford-town. The mansion near the station was formerly a seat of the Elfords of Sheeps Tor. The family is now extinct, at least in the neighbourhood where at one time it was of dignity and well estated. Yelverton is itself a mere collection of villa residences of Plymouth men of business, but it forms a convenient point of departure for many interesting expeditions. The principal residence of the Elfords was at Longstone, in Sheeps Tor, where the old house remains little altered, and where the _windstrew_ should be seen, a granite platform, raised above the field, on which thrashing could be carried on by the aid of the winds that carried away the chaff. [Illustration: THE DEWERSTONE]