A SURREY RIVER. 131 



bank-tops, and the brooks are bayed back by the 

 body of water from the river. When the rain has 

 ceased, and the rush from the hills and fields has 

 stopped, there is calm deep water, which soon clears 

 down. From the river the fish rush for shelter and 

 food — there is plenty of that. Pike, perch, trout, 

 chub, roach, and dace, — all rush up. 



I have seen good pike taken with a worm, for the 

 fish sometimes will bite at anything. Baskets are 

 filled then, and the fish run large. The country folks 

 have names of their own for the fords ; for instance, 

 Flanchford, near Reigate and Leigh, is called Flin- 

 chet. If you asked one of the rustics to direct you 

 to Flanchford Bridge, he would tell you " he'd got no 

 recknin' of a place o' that name." Ask him for Flin- 

 chet, and he would give you accurate directions at 

 once. Those who come down from town to see wild 

 life in some of our localities often go back sadly dis- 

 appointed, simply because they cannot understand 

 the dialect of the natives of the soil. 



Past the lawns of mansions the river flows through 

 park-like stretches of meadow-land, heavily timbered 

 with fine trees, and dotted over with groups of cattle, 

 some of them standing knee-deep in the shallower 



