. AND OF STILL WATERS. 9 



up through a small opening in the sand at the 

 bottom of a small stream, the Ravensbourne. 

 The greater number of eels, however, do visit 

 the sea, and the " passing up " a river of the 

 young eels is one of the most curious sights of 

 natural history. 



Thjs passage of young eels is called eelfare on 

 the banks of the Thames; and it has been 

 thought by some that the term elver, which on 

 the banks of the Severn is used indiscriminately 

 for all young eels, is a corruption of the word 

 eelfare. In the Thames this eelfare takes place 

 in the spring, in other rivers in the summer; 

 and some idea of the numbers of these young 

 eels, each about three inches long, may be 

 gathered from the record of Dr. William Roots, 

 who lived at Kingston in 1832. He calculated 

 that from sixteen to eighteen hundred passed a 

 given point in the space of one minute of time. 

 These baby eels travel only by day and rest by 

 night. In large and deep rivers, where they 

 probably find the current strong, they form 

 themselves into a closely compacted company, 

 " a narrow but long-extended column," as it has 



