D1::C0VS FOli WILD TuWL. ' 209 



able amount of cluck-traffic on and over the banks 

 to })ools below, and I desired to give no hold to the 

 nails of the ducks' feet so as to wear away the bank, 

 but to force tliem to hop or wing up to its 

 summit. Though I knev\' that no great landward 

 floods were to be apprehended, in one of the 

 dams, however, I had not provided a sufficient 

 ^^esca^ie" in the right place, when the springs 

 were caused to be in partial flood. The con- 

 sequence of this was, that in a ^iavt of the dam 

 where the chief weight of water rested, near 

 where I had made the escape, tlie escape was 

 overpowered, and, giving way itself, the rush 

 of water beneath cut the dam completely in two, 

 carrying aw^ay great blocks of earth more than 

 a hundred yards towards another pool. The dam 

 of that pool, however, held good, and no further 

 damage was ex|)erienced. 



This was a lesson to my ^engineering skilly and 

 I there and then made all the escaj)es on the 

 hard, imbroken gravel at the end of the dam at 

 the foot of the hill ; and these have answered 

 their purpose, and all holds good, and has held 

 good for several years under this precaution. I 

 have constructed them so that in summer, and 



VOL. II. p 



