"And near thereto's the Gubbins' cave, A people that no knowledge have Of law, of God, or men; Whom Cæsar never yet subdued; Who've lawless liv'd; of manners rude; All savage in their den. "By whom, if any pass that way, He dares not the least time to stay, But presently they howl; Upon which signal they do muster Their naked forces in a cluster, Led forth by Roger Rowle." It cannot be said that the race is altogether extinct. The magistrates have had much trouble with certain persons living in hovels on the outskirts of the moor, who subsist in the same manner. They carry off lambs and young horses before they are marked, and when it is difficult, not to say impossible, for the owners to identify them. Their own ewes always have doubles. In the West Okement valley, in a solitary spot, are the foundations of a cottage in which for many years a man lived, preying upon the flocks and cattle on the moor, and carrying on his depredations with such cunning that he was never caught. It was shrewdly suspected that he was in league with a number of small farmers, and that he was by this means able to pass on his captures and ensure their concealment. Black Down is an extensive ridge of moorland traversed by the high road from Okehampton to Tavistock. The highest point is called Gibbet Hill, but tradition is silent as to who hung there. In the Mary Tavy register occurs this entry:-- "1691, March 12, William Warden, a currier, was whipped by the Parson and Churchwardens of Whitchurch, and ordered to be passed on as a wandering rogue from parish to parish, by the officers therein, in 26 days to his native place, Cheshunt in Hertfordshire, and as the Churchwardens were conveying him on horseback over Black Down, he died on the back of the horse, and was buried the same night." The parson of Whitchurch was a Mr. Polwhele, who was also justice of peace. Here is another curious entry in the same book of registers:-- "1756, Sept. 12, Robert Elford, was baptized, the child of Susanna Elford by her sister's husband, to whom she was married with the consent of her sister, the wife, who was at the wedding." Here the union is not with a _deceased_ wife's sister, but the living wife's sister. There is no entry relative to this marriage, so that the pair must have got their unhallowed union blessed in some remote parish, where the relationship was not known. In 1760 William Creedy, sojourner, and Susanna Elford had their banns called, but there is no entry of a marriage. Another entry in the same register book is suggestive of a scandal. "1627, Aug. 5, Baptized, Nicolas filius Mri. Johan. Cake jam senio confecti."