6 WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



The marsh lands are bare, with the exception 

 of the rich green grass ; and you would not find 

 water-lilies, only reeds and a sort of short flag in the 

 dykes which intersect them in all directions, and 

 which are inhabited by large eels in great numbers. 

 In search of the reed- wren's nest I got into mud as 

 well as water. 



At one particular hour of the afternoon in 

 summer between five and six o'clock the marshes 

 shone in a golden light which tinted all things far 

 and near just such a tone Cuyp gave to his marsh 

 scenes ; and, to complete the picture, one saw the 

 men-of-war, frigates, and sloops off the mouth of the 

 Medway in the distance. Turner visited our marshes 

 and painted some of his famous pictures from what 

 he saw there : to wit, * Stangate Creek,' * Shrimping 

 Sands,' and ' Off Sheerness.' 



On the seaward side of the wall, a strip of land 

 ran, about one hundred yards in width from the 

 water's edge when the tide was out called the 

 Saltings. It was covered with a tough low shrub 

 having grey-green leaves, Suceda ' Seablite,' they 

 named it with coarse wiry grass and the seapink ; 

 and this was cut up with runs and hollows caused by 

 the rush of the tide. In these, birds would come to 

 feed ; my fisher friends moored their boats near the 



