A SUSSEX MARSH 



level. Eye — an islet — is, of course, much the same 

 word as the Norwegian (p, pronounced eu. Horse-eye, 

 being the most considerable elevation in the Marsh, 

 was no doubt the islet where, in time of inundation, 

 the horses, the most valuable and important of the 

 country people's stock, found safety and grazing. 

 Chilley, where another homestead stands, was, I 

 imagine, in those far distant days often completely sub- 

 merged, while the brow of Horse-eye stood bravely 

 above water. Pevensey, Langney, Rickney, all marsh 

 places, owe their terminations to the same fact, and 

 were beyond doubt elevations or islets in the waste 

 of fen. 



The flat, verdant meadow of Pevensey Marsh is 

 typically English, one might almost say typically South 

 Saxon. It lacks the width and space and foreign aspect 

 of the Norfolk Broad country, or the spreading marsh 

 lands of Holland. The friendly pleasant hills encircling 

 it smile always a kindly welcome to the occupant, and 

 break the feeling of utter loneliness. The seascape 

 gleams familiar beyond the low line of shingle. Here 

 one can be completely alone with nature in her calmest 

 and most attractive mood, without the sensation of 

 being banished from mankind. In certain parts of the 

 South African interior, notably amid the endless plains 

 of Ngamiland, the enormous void of sky, the never- 

 ending flats, sun-scorched and burning, seem at times 

 almost terrible in their monotony. Here upon this 

 green English marsh there is no feeling of that sort. 

 Nature is friendly, confiding. You may seek her 

 secrets, spend hours and days in her company ; her 

 face is nearly always placid, soft, reposeful. The breeze 

 blows pleasantly from the sea ; the plovers flap over- 

 head, calling at you or upon one another with high 

 voices ; the heron fishes undisturbed yonder as you 



13 



