WICKEN FEN. 109 



the Fen itself. D - entered one of the dykes ("lodes" the Fen people call 

 them) to reach it, or, to be more accurate, a large portion of the dyke 

 entered him, for the water, which seemed about three feet deep, rose to his 

 mouth and over it, when he sank the same distance in the muddy slime at 

 the bottom. The rest of us adopted milder methods, and crossed by a 

 plank higher up, and then at length we had reached our destination. 



WICKEN FEN. 



Very different was the picture now before our eyes ; the village seemed 

 farther off than before, and, instead of a monotonous brown mass of reeds 

 and osiers, we found numerous open spaces half under water, and studded 

 with elegant wavy willow-bushes, clumps of bulrushes, and sweetly scented 

 bundles of fresh-cut sedge. The surface of the Fen was varied ; the whole 

 was split up by narrow dykes or lodes of just such a c width as to invite 

 a jump, but with edges so rotten as to ensure a relapse. In parts the 

 ground was dry and covered with long, waving grass ; in others, you splashed 

 through short sedge, where the water rose above the ankles at every step. 



