The River Port Hutton to Smithford 



It was evident from this that much of the water was 

 derived from the river, but that some part at least was 

 salt water left behind by the tide and now slowly draining 

 from the banks. 



The current gradually slackened until it was imper- 

 ceptible, and then we noticed that the boat was slowly 

 swinging round, and this continued until her bows, which 

 were pointing up stream when we came on board, were 

 directed towards the open sea. The tide now com- 

 menced to flow, but the current was not nearly so strong 

 as it was during the ebb. The water was brown and 

 oily looking, and it spread slowly over the mud flats on 

 the sides of the channel. We now got under way, and 

 steamed slowly up the estuary towards the river above. 

 There was little to interest us at first. The distant banks 

 were low, and the country all around was flat ; but away 

 to the east we could still see the low rolling hills of chalk 

 in the neighbourhood of Clifftown. 



The Sun now broke through the mists, and we got a 

 better view of our surroundings. 



The tide continued to rise, but there was no strong 

 current ; even such as there was diminished as the time 

 of high water approached. At full tide there was a 

 period of about an hour during which there was practi- 

 cally no movement of the waters. There was scarcely 

 a breath of wind, and had it not been for our back-wash 

 the water would have been without a ripple. After a 

 time the tops of the mud banks appeared, and were at 

 once occupied by gulls and other sea birds, in search of 

 food. The water continued to fall, but still as yet there 

 was no perceptible outward current. 



It was doubtless during the period of slack water, 



