FISHES AND FISHING. 235 



THE RIVEB MOLE has innumerable sources, derived 

 from small springs, which form rivulets, that by ac 

 cumulation swell into a river. One of these rivulets 

 rises on Colley Moor, not far from Cole Harbour, and 

 meandering in its course, swells into a large pond, 

 near the Evelyn Arms, at Wotton, which pond for 

 merly belonged to the monks of Chertsey Abbey, and 

 is believed to have been one of their reservoirs for 

 fish, probably for carp, because that fish was, it 

 is believed, introduced into England not more than 

 fifty years before the suppression of this Abbey, and 

 being considered a luxury, there can be little doubt 

 but these monks took care to enjoy it. This pond is 

 above a mile in length, but full of weeds ; it com 

 municates with another large pond, by a continuation 

 of the rivulet, which last pond forms a mill-head for 

 Wescot Mill. All the different little streams I men 

 tion unite into a considerable river, and approach 

 Boxhill, where it sinks into clefts of chalk, like as 

 through a sieve ; this river was formerly called the 

 Eiver Swallow. In 1670, by the highway side, a 

 great quantity of earth fell down from the side of the 

 hill, and discovered a pit thirty feet deep, and at 

 the bottom the water could be seen running. On the 

 other side of Boxhill, next to Leatherhead, the river 

 appears to spring out of the ground, in a greater or loss 

 quantity, according to the wetness or dryness of the 

 season. 



