37 



Between these conclusions, derived from sources entirely in- 

 dependent of each other, there is, therefore, a general coinci- 

 dence which it is impossible to overlook, and the importance 

 of which it would be most unreasonable to deny. The coin- 

 cidence has not been assumed hypothetically, but has been 

 proved legitimately, by an immense number of direct observa- 

 tions conducted with indefatigable labour, and all tending to 

 the establishment of the same general truth. 



APPENDIX. 



[The following account of the drainage of a part of the fen 

 lands bordering on the Wash of Lincolnshire, is principally 

 abridged from Dugdale on " The History of Imbanking and 

 Drayninge," chap. o4 ; and from " Badeslade on the Naviga- 

 tion of King's-Lynn, and of Cambridge." It was intended to 

 appear in the form of a note to the fifth section of a paper in 

 the Annals of Philosophy for April last; but it was not trans- 

 mitted to the Editors in time for the press.] 



A short account of the drainage of a part of the fens, bor- 

 dering on the Wash, during a period within the reach of au- 

 thentic records, will explain and confirm the assertion in the 

 text.* In the early parts of that period, the drainage was effected 

 in the following manner : 1. By the channel of the Witham, 

 which had nearly the same course which it has at the present 

 time. '2. By the Welland, which, after descending by Stam- 

 ford, ("lowland, and Spalding, united with the waters of the 

 Glen in the estuary, north of Holland- fen. 3. By the Nene, 

 which, after passing Wansford and Peterborough, descended 

 by Whittlesea-meer, Ugg nicer, and Ramsey-meer to Benwick, 

 where it was joined by the Old West-water, one of the branches 

 of the Great Ouse ; from Benwick it flowed on the north side 

 of March and Doddington (which stand, ifl mistake not, on low 

 diluvial hills) to Upwell, where it was joined by the Welney 

 river, then the principal branch of the Great Ouse ; and from 

 Upwell the united waters proceeded directly to Wisbeach, 

 anciently called Ousebeach. 4. By the Great Ouse, which, 

 after passing Huntingdon and St. Ives, descended to Erith (a 

 small village at the SW. end of the old and new Bedford 

 rivers) \\&m\ it divided into two branches. One called the Old 

 West-water ran to Benwick, as before stated, and there united 

 with the Nene. The other branch, now called the Old Ouse 

 (sometimes erroneously marked as the Old West-water), de- 

 scended by Cottenham fen, and was joined by the Cam a few 

 miles above Ely. After passing Ely," it was joined by the Mil- 

 denhall river; and it then passed, by the way of Littleport and 



* Sec Jnnuls for April, Editor's note. sect. 5. /V'- / »$* 



/ 



