THE ANGLER'S SOUVENIR 



245 



red and white cattle lay and stood in picturesque 

 groups, or waded knee-deep in the grass with bent- 

 down heads and lazily- switching tails. Windmills 

 whirled their great arms over the far-reaching 

 plain, and ever and anon we passed a clump of 

 trees, in the midst of which nestled a small farm- 

 house or inn, with a broad, flat ferry-boat lying by 

 the river bank. 



All down here the river is banked up on either 

 side, so that the level of the river surface is 

 actually higher than the dykes which drain the 

 marsh into it. Hence at the end of each important 

 drain there is a small windmill, which works a 

 pump, and so lifts the water from the marsh into 

 the river. 



The prettiest feature, however, in the whole 

 scene is the presence of numbers of yachts and 

 wherries. The former with their snow-white sails, 

 and the latter with their huge brown or black ones, 

 look very singular indeed in the distance, for, low 

 down as we are, the river is invisible, and the 

 vessels seem tacking and sailing about in the marsh 

 itself. 



The day wore on, and at intervals we passed 

 small boats moored by the bank, the occupants of 

 which were fishing for bream and roach. 



"By the shade of Walton! but they look very 

 happy and comfortable yonder ; and they seem to 

 be taking some heavy fish. We must try bream- 

 fishing ourselves, for, after all, it doesn't seem such 



