INTRODUCTION. 



occasioned by attempting to force on this lower cut, 

 the material used in making the " guide-banks " being 

 washed away almost as fast as it was deposited. It is 

 now sought to persuade the channel to take the desired 

 course by gradually throwing out jetties from the banks 

 in the neighbourhood, and this process appears likely 

 to be successful in the end. The total amount of land, 

 then, actually reclaimed amounts to just one thousand 

 and seventy acres. 



THE BRECK DISTRICT.* 



The exact limits of this most important division are 

 more easily traced on the map than rendered clear to 

 the comprehension of the reader by a mere topograph- 

 ical description; its outline, however, may be briefly 

 given as follows : On the west it is bounded by the 

 f ' Fen " district (to be next considered), as far as King's 

 Lynn, and thence by the shores of the Wash as far 

 as Heacham ; whilst, towards the east its limits are 

 very nearly identical with that marked division on 

 the Ordnance map of the county, which, by a closer 

 " filling up " on the surface, sufficiently distinguishes 

 the enclosed and thickly populated portions on the one 

 hand, from the large holdings and wide open tracts on 

 the other. Nevertheless, for our present purpose, it will 

 be necessary to make a slight detour, near the southern 

 boundaries of the county, in order to include certain 

 "breck" lands and heaths in that neighbourhood, 

 extending somewhat further to the east. Commencing, 

 therefore, in the vicinity of West Harling, an imaginary 

 line might be drawn in a north-westerly direction 



* For the following descriptions of the " Brecks" and "Fens" I 

 am indebted to the pen of a friend and naturalist, who, from a 

 residence for some years on the borders of both districts, is inti- 

 mately acquainted with their peculiar features. 



