MYSTERIOUS WHITE HORSES.

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 130, 29 November 1919, Page 14

MYSTERIOUS WHITE HORSES.

Every now and then, naturally enough, a little waves of popular interest eddies a uoU.M, ™v Mysterious white horses cut in tho hill-sides in various parts of southern Lngland. Sometimes, owing to the encroaching habits of tho brush, the chalk which constitutes tho lines of the animals fades from view and almost from memory (according to the Christian. Science Monitor). This process had well-nigh happened to the Weetbury White Horse at Bratan, Wiltshire, when the clearing of brushes laid it baro and revived inquiries as to .its origin and .solicitude far its preservation, as well as for tho upkeep of its various counterparts .elsewhere. Well-known authorities havo it that tho horse was cut out to commemorate the victory of King Alfred over the Danes at Ethandune, tho site of which is not far distant. Uffington, however, has a better specimen as white- horses go. though abnormally lean and scraggy in proportions. In size it is nearly 350"feet in length and the same iv breadth. It is mentioned in the records of 1571, and was long the ..cone of annual festivities known as^ the ''scouring" festival. The existence of thes-. and tho other white horses, with which may be included tho Cenie Abbas Giant, and the Long- Man at'Wilmington, has been the subject of much learned and largely unfruitful discussion. '