WOODLANDS. 9 



water, and on the water duck- weed grew, and aquatic 

 grasses at the sides. Summer heats have evaporated 

 the water, leaving the weeds and grasses prone upon 

 the still moist earth. 



Eushes have sprung up and mark the line of the 

 ruts, and willow stoles, bramble bushes, and thorns 

 growing at the side, make, as it were, a third hedge 

 in the middle of the lane. The best path is by the 

 wood itself, but even there occasional leaps are 

 necessary over pools of dark water full of vegetation. 

 These alternate with places where the ground, being 

 higher, yawns with wide cracks crumbling at the 

 edge, the heat causing the clay to split and open. In 

 winter it must be an impassable quagmire ; now it is 

 dry and arid. 



Eising out of this lowlying spot the lane again 

 becomes green and pleasant, and is crossed by 

 another. At the meeting of these four ways some 

 boughs hang over a green bank where I have often 

 rested. In front the lane is barred by a gate, but 

 beyond the gate it still continues its straight course 

 into the wood. To the left the track, crossing at 

 right angles, also proceeds into the wood, but it is so 

 overhung with trees and blocked by bushes that its 

 course after the first hundred yards or so cannot be 

 traced. 



To the right the track a little wider and clearer of 

 bushes extends through wood, and as it is straight 

 and rises up a gentle slope, the eye can travel along 

 it half a mile. There is nothing but wood around. 

 This track to the right appears the most used, and 

 has some ruts in the centre. The sward each side is 



