A Brief History of a River Tank. 



41 



pots you may "build another Tower of Babel, and its weight 

 would scarcely make an indentation on a newly- ploughed 

 field. 



The rocks were, as soon as tolerably hard, placed in a large 

 vessel of water. A tank in the garden used for ordinary 

 garden purposes, answered admirably for the soaking process 

 that all newly-cemented work must undergo before it should 

 be used in an aquarium. The only preparation the tank 

 itself underwent was to colour the back, so that glimpses of 

 the wall should not be seen through any possible interstices of 

 the rockwork. I took some sheets of green tissue paper, 

 smeared the back plate of the glass all over with copal varnish, 



pressed the paper smooth on it, and by that experiment 

 determined that if it ever becomes needful to colour one side 

 of a tank, the paper and varnish is the most effectual and 

 cleanly that can be adopted. In due time — a fortnight 

 perhaps, not less — the blocks were taken from the bath and 

 placed in position. A bottom of clean well- washed pebbles 

 was laid down, the tank was then filled with water, and the 

 gold fishes and minnows were introduced. 



That is nearly all that has been done to the tank from that 

 day to this. Yet a few things remain to be said. In the first 

 place, it has been a complete success, and the nature of that 



