NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



home of the handsome yellow iris, flaunting its yellow 

 banners by the dykeside towards early June, or pluck 

 the water-lilies here and there ; a bird-lover or two may 

 note the herons fishing pensively amid the wide green 

 plain, or winging their majestic flight towards Herst- 

 monceux and Windmill Hill. But the majority of 

 wheeling folk pass over the Marsh unheedingly, know- 

 ing nothing of its history, still less of the quiet 

 pleasures that may be gathered within its borders. 

 To them the chief matter is whether the wind is for 

 or against them ; if with them, they whisk across the 

 few miles of level road happily enough ; if against 

 them, the bufteting breeze entails a sore struggle and 

 earns many an objurgation. 



Yet to those who cultivate its friendship and seek its 

 pleasures, Pevensey Marsh has a wonderful charm of 

 its own. Its wide skies, its spacious sunrises and sun- 

 sets, its rolling autumn mists, the pleasant hills that 

 enlap it, the lonely line of Martello towers along its 

 seaward aspect, the magnificent contours of Beachy 

 Head and the rampart of South Downs that rise west- 

 ward, the fat green pastures, the well-to-do cattle — all 

 these things carry with them much contentment to the 

 wandering and observant eye. Thoroughly to appre- 

 ciate the sport and the wild life of the Marsh and its 

 shore-line, one must, of course, serve a somewhat close 

 apprenticeship. Nature requires wooing, and it takes 

 time and patience to induce her to yield up her secrets. 

 It takes time, too, to become familiar with the country 

 people, their sports, ways, legends, and the curious 

 knowledge that has descended to them from remote 

 times. It was two or three years, for instance, before 

 I became acquainted with a Marsh eel-fisher and his 

 methods. Seeing an old, rugged-looking fellow one 

 day tramping along the road with a great canvas bag, 



2 



