An unclaimed animal is driven to Dunnebridge Pound and
there kept for some weeks, at the expiration of which, if he is still
unclaimed, or if the owner refuses to pay for poundage, etc., he is sold
for the benefit of the Duchy.
Each quarter of the moor has its peculiar earmark for ponies, consisting
of a round hole at the base or the tip on the near or off ear, through
which a piece of string is tied, there being thus four distinct marks.
Some of these ancient usages have fallen into desuetude. The last
occasion on which the horn was sounded was in 1843; and the four
quarters are now let to as many "moormen," who endeavour to make as much
profit as possible out of them. To this day, however, neither on
Dartmoor nor on the Devonshire Commons, is any man denied pasturage for
his ponies or cattle.
BONDMEN
From vills we may naturally turn to those who in ancient days--the word
has another meaning now--were named after them _villeins_. More than once
in the course of this work we have had occasion to refer to the
existence of an unfree class in England, on which prouder and more
happily circumstanced persons looked with considerable disdain, and
therefore our account would fail of a necessary element of completeness
if it omitted to deal, in some measure, with this striking phenomenon of
mediaeval English life. The subject is too wide and complex to be
discussed with any approach to thoroughness, but some aspects of it may
be introduced, and indeed _must be_ introduced, being, as we have said,
complementary to statements of social relationships already set down.
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