EFFECTS OF SXIPE-SHOOTING. 39 



grazed all the skin off my shins, but covered 

 them with a number of fine deep gashes, into 

 which the water (by no means pure) had 

 soaked ; and this, together with the blistering 

 effect of a hot sun on my wet skin, had set 

 up an inflammation which did not entirely 

 subside for weeks, and nearly drove me mad 

 at the time. Of course, when it was too late, 

 my guide, who had watched me wading all 

 day, told me that even the natives of the 

 marsh suffer if they wade bare-legged in it 

 for more than an hour or so at a time, and 

 from my own experience I can well believe 

 him. 



Before leaving Troitsky next morning, I 

 had a stroll round the village, and found it, 

 like most of its fellows of this fen-land, com- 

 posed of two or three long rambling streets, 

 built on the hio-h land, at rio-ht ano;les to 

 the marsh and immediately overlooking it. 

 The houses are all reed -thatched. If they 



