loo ON SURREY HILLS. 



CHAPTER IV. 



A SURREY RIVER. 



/. — The Woodland Mole. 



The sullen Mole — the burrowing Mole — the winding 

 Mole — such are the titles that have been given to our 

 river : but there is one more fitting than any of these, 

 and that is the woodland Mole. Go where you will 

 along its course, woodlands surround you and it. 

 For thirty years I have been familiar with the river 

 — the whole length of it — from close to its source to 

 where it finally empties itself into the Thames near 

 Hampton Court. . 



Those who only know it near the town of Dorking 

 have probably noted nothing particularly striking 

 about it : to them it may appear only a sluggish run 

 of water overshadowed by fine trees which grow on 



