CHAPTER XIV 



A RIVER YACHTING RESORT 



THE low-lying landscape of 

 uninterrupted marshland 

 stretching away from Yar- 

 mouth to Acle is monotonous 

 even to the sportsman, steam 

 drainage having rendered the 

 marsh unattractive to most 

 species of wildfowl. Occa- 

 sionally in the autumn, after 

 a wet season, snipe are fairly 

 abundant, and may be shot 

 from a boat on the river as 

 they rise from the rands, but as a rule, 

 in summer, nothing catches the eye of 

 the gunner save perhaps the lazy flight 

 of a solitary heron in the remote dis- 

 tance, or a few lapwings as they cross 

 the river from time to time. 



Shooting on the rivers and broads, owing to the crowds 

 of armed Cockneys which appeared when these waterways 

 were first brought under the notice of the public, fell into evil 

 repute. This was perhaps hardly surprising when irate 

 landowners found their cattle wounded by bullets, blinded by 

 charges of shot, the sails of their yachts perforated, and the 

 roofs of their watermills damaged by projectiles discharged 

 from the weapons of these would-be sportsmen. No language 

 is too strong to denounce such offenders, and no treatment 



A SKELETON WATERMILL. 



