36 The Natural History of Se I borne 



in 1635, and the eleventh year of Charles the First (which 

 now lies before me), it appears that the limits of the former 

 are much circumscribed. For, to say nothing of the farther 

 side, with which I am not so well acquainted, the bounds on 

 this side, in old times, came into Binswood ; and extended to 

 the ditch of Ward le Ham Park, in which stands the curious 

 mount called King John's Hill, and Lodge Hill ; and to the 

 verge of Hartley Mauduit, called Mauduit Hatch ; compre- 

 hending also Short Heath, Oakhanger, and Oakwoods; a 

 large district, now private property, though once belonging to 

 the royal domain. 



It is remarkable that the term purlieu is never once men- 

 tioned in this long roll of parchment. It contains, besides 

 the perambulation, a rough estimate of the value of the timbers, 

 which were considerable, growing at that time in the district 

 of the Holt ; and enumerates the officers, superior and inferior, 

 of those joint forests, for the time being, and their ostensible 

 fees and perquisites. In those days, as at present, there were 

 hardly any trees in Wolmer Forest. 



Within the present limits of the forest are three consider- 

 able lakes, Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer; all of which are 

 stocked with carp, tench, eels, and perch : but the fish do not 

 thrive well because the water is hungry, and the bottoms are 

 a naked sand. 



A circumstance respecting these ponds, though by no means 

 peculiar to them, I cannot pass over in silence; and that is, 

 that instinct by which in summer all the kine, whether oxen, 

 cows, calves, or heifers, retire constantly to the water during 

 the hotter hours ; where, being more exempt from flies, and 

 inhaling the coolness of that element, some belly deep, and 

 some only to mid-leg, they ruminate and solace themselves 

 from about ten in the morning till four in the afternoon, and 

 then return to their feeding. During this great proportion 

 of the day they drop much dung, in which insects nestle ; 

 and so supply food for the fish, which would be poorly sub- 

 sisted but from this contingency. Thus Nature, who is a 

 great economist, converts the recreation of one animal to the 



