138 NATURE NEAR LONDON. 



wbicli liave been floated up and left. Over the stormy 

 waters a band of brown bank-martins wheel hastily 

 to and fro, and from the osiers the loud chirp of the 

 sedge-reedHng rises above the buffet of the wind 

 against the ear, and the splashing of the waves. 



Once more a change, where the stream darts along 

 swiftly, after having escaped from a weir, and still 

 streaked with foam. The shore rises like a sea beach, 

 and on the pebbles men are patching and pitching 

 old barges which have been hauled up on the bank. 

 A skiff partly drawn upon the beach rocks as the 

 current strives to work it loose, and up the varnish 

 of the side glides a flickering light reflected from the 

 wavelets. A fleet of such skiffs are waiting for hire 

 by the bridge ; the waterman cleaning them with a 

 parti-coloured mop spies me eyeing his vessels, and 

 before I know exactly what is going on, and whether 

 I have yet made up my mind, the sculls are ready, 

 the cushions in ; I take my seat, and am shoved 

 gently forth upon the stream. 



After I have gone under the arch, and am clear 

 of all obstructions, I lay the sculls aside, and reclining 

 let the boat drift past a ballast punt moored over the 

 shallowest place, and with a rising load of gravel. 

 One man holds the pole steadying the scoop, while 

 his mate turns a windlass the chain from which drags 

 it along the bottom filling the bag with pebbles, and 

 finally hauls it to the surface, when the contents are 

 shot out in the punt. 



It is a floating box rather than a boat, square at 

 each end, and built for capacity instead of progress. 

 There are others moored in various places, and all 



