THE WIGEON AND POCHARDS 263 



of wet marsh and slub ooze, the latter being covered 

 with sea-grass (Zostera marina]. On the opposite 

 shore the slub and drowned marshes are more ex- 

 tensive. Looked at from the rising grounds above, 

 there seems a bewildering network of mud-flats, 

 sand-bars, and water-channels. Even when the tide 

 is out there is plenty of water left, and the great 

 pools here and there are as large as mill-ponds. 

 Not only does the whole district smell un whole- 

 somely, suggesting fevers and ague, but it also con- 

 tains more death-traps in the way of ooze-quakes 

 and shifting sands than any place which is known to 

 me. None but the fowlers and fishermen can work 

 in and out of those dangerous channels and gripes, 

 alternated with sand-bars and sandy ooze, and where 

 grass covers the ooze nearest inshore, beyond it is 

 mud pure and simple. 



Hundreds of fowl may be on one side of a sand- 

 bar, while on the other your flat punt creeps along, 

 but never a bird will fall to your share, unless indeed 

 they should rise and come over, a very unlikely 

 chance, as they are feeding busily. 



There is a cut through that sand-bar, a winding 

 cut which divides it as a ditch divides a double 

 hedge, and it is to all appearance as calm at the 

 opening as is the water in a pond after rain. But 

 this appearance of calm is fearfully deceptive. The 

 water comes from the main channel. Once get fairly 

 into that cut through the bar, and you will be shot 

 out at the other end, utterly shipwrecked, food for 

 the hungry crabs. 



