130 MORE ABOUT THE OTTER 
you can look him over quick ; master says I've got 
to put him in a basket and to send him off for stuff- 
ing.' Before the local boards for sanitary measures 
existed, gentlemen's houses near the river had large 
drains leading from the kitchen buildings, the brewery 
included and, like old Simon the Cellarer, many 
were brewing all the year round down to the river. 
These drains only led from the offices mentioned. 
As nearly all of them were three feet in circumfer- 
ence, having a good fall, they were always clean ; in 
fact, it would have been difficult for small matters to 
have stopped there. Refuse food from dish-washing 
was continually coming down into the river ; this the 
fish found out, and consequently they were wont to 
gather there in numbers good-sized ones. The otter 
found the fish out at the drain mouth ; and when the 
river was low he ventured up the drain. It was warm 
there, and, moreover, a lot of plump frogs regaled 
themselves in it. After sampling a few of these he 
ventured further, until he saw daylight. Places were 
not barred up in those days as they are now. He 
just poked his head out, then turned round and 
scuttled down the drain into the river, much faster 
than he went up. One day he went up and did not 
return. A fowl or two had been missed these 
creatures have a habit of gallivanting ''round such 
