HISTORY OF DECOYS. 67 



in an almost unbroken surface from the shores of the Wash to the high 

 lands which form its extreme borders. A difference of a few feet in the 

 level of this vast extent of country would cause the waters of the ocean 

 once more to cover the whole tract. That this extensive " level " in 

 bygone ages formed part of the bed of the Wash, from which it was 

 raised by a gradual process of silting, its geological structure plainly shows, 

 and the same process is still adding largely to the dry land along the 

 sea-shore. But that this process has been frequently interrupted the 

 presence of buried forests imbedded in the peat also clearly shows. 



All this, of course, was prehistoric, but we can easily imagine that 

 before any attempt at artificial drainage altered the face of the country, the 

 whole plain would present the appearance of one great sedge-covered tract, 

 intersected with sheets of open water, vastly more extensive in winter, and 

 studded here and there with drier spots or hills, densely covered with 

 thickets of alder and willow, with perhaps occasional spots, more elevated 

 still, bearing a growth of timber trees. 



In addition to the influx of water from the sea, this low-lying tract 

 was subject to constant flooding from the up-country which surrounded it, 

 and probably one of the first difficulties experienced in attempting any 

 system of drainage was, as now, the solution of the problem how to dispose 

 of these inland waters. The first attempts at drainage attributed to the 

 Romans appear to have been restricted to shutting out the waters of the 

 ocean by means of sea-walls, but it must soon have been discovered that 

 much more than this was required, and attention was doubtless directed 

 to restraining the rivers within due bounds, and here the dead level of 

 the country would form the chief obstacle. However, gradual success 

 at length rewarded unceasing labour, and although the Isle of Ely was 

 still a veritable island that could only be reached by boats or over the ice 

 in winter, and much of the country could only be travelled on stilts, 

 some progress was made. From the early records of the efforts made to 

 reclaim portions of the Fens some curious glimpses of the country and its 

 inhabitants in Saxon times are afforded, and later, the records of disasters, 

 and the remedies applied, show the fragmentary nature of the attempts 

 to conquer the too abundant waters. 



At length works on a large scale for the better drainage of this immense 

 extent of waste were undertaken by Morton Bishop of Ely, in the reign of 



