34-8 KALM'S ENGLAND. 



land itself, which at a little distance made a pretty ap- 

 pearance. On the meadows inside the wall grew a 

 beautiful grass. It sometimes happens that when there 

 is an unusually high tide the water in some places breaks 

 through these earth-walls, overflows the whole ' level,' 

 falten, or plain around, drowns cattle and other animals 

 which go on the meadows, sweeps away the hay, and 

 beyond this, does much other damage. There are, there- 

 fore, certain persons appointed, whose duty it is not only 

 annually to examine whether the dam or earth-wall, 

 dammen eller mullvallen, is in all places strong and 

 properly maintained, and where it in any place needs 

 repair, to cause that to be effected without delay, but 

 they have also their assistants, who in short, daily walk 

 along the wall, and look whether the water [T. I. p. 479] 

 is beginning to damage the earth-wall in any place, so 

 that the damage may be able to be prevented and cured 

 in time. 



The sides of the walls were almost everywhere covered 

 with, qvickrot, Triticum, 105 [T. repens] Couch-grass, 

 Quickens, Twitch, or Stroil, which grew here very luxu- 

 riantly to 30, 36, or 42 inches high, and thick enough. 

 In some places it was cut, in others left. Where it was 

 cut, which was done by those who owned the meadows 

 adjoining, it had begun to grow again very luxuriantly, 

 and stood thick and green, so that this grass seems to be 

 an excellent thing to fasten the sides of the earth-walls 

 with, as I said before. No trees were planted on these 

 walls except a few privets, Ligustrer, which had esta- 

 blished themselves on the inner side. On top of the walls 

 grew plenty of Gramen Murinum J. B. [Hordeum muri- 

 num, wild barley, wall-barley], but it was now mostly 

 withered away. If these earth-walls did not exist, the 

 river Thames would always look like a very large lake 

 when the water in the river flooded the whole tract. In 



