"...they glimpsed far off in the east the grey-green lines of the Downs that lay beyond...the Barrow-Downs had as sinister a reputation in hobbit-legend as the Forest(The Old Forest) itself."

"Their way wound along the floor of the hollow, and round the green feet of a steep hill into another deeper and broader valley, and then over the shoulder of further hills, and down their long limbs, and up their smooth sides again, up on to new hill-tops and down into new valleys. There was no tree nor any visible water: it was a country of grass and short springy turf, silent except for the whisper of the air over the edges of the land, and high lonely cries of strange birds."