38 MY LIFE 



with the most crystal clear water, and very deep in the centre, 

 where the springs were continually bubbling upward, keeping 

 uo a good stream which supplied a considerable part of the 

 water in the New River. But its chief beauty was, that the 

 centre was filled with great flocculent masses of green con- 

 ferva^ while the water in the centre appeared to have a blue 

 tint, producing exquisite shades of blue and green in ever- 

 varying gradations, which were exceedingly beautiful. In 

 fact, only once have I seen another spring which equalled it 

 in beauty, in the little island of Semau, near Timor, and that 

 was by no means equal in colour-effects, but only in the depth 

 and purity of the water and the fine rock-basins that contained 

 it. I am informed that now this beautiful Chadwell Spring 

 has been entirely destroyed by the boring of deep wells in the 

 neighbourhood, which have drawn off the springs that sup- 

 plied it, and that it is now little more than a mud-hole, the 

 whole New River supply being drawn from the river Lea or 

 pumped up from deep wells near Ware. Thus does our 

 morbid civilization destroy the most beautiful works of nature. 

 This spring was, I believe, unequalled in the whole kingdom 

 for simple beauty. 



While the country to the north and west of the town was 

 characterized by its numerous streams, mills, and rich mead- 

 ows, that to the east and south was much higher and drier, 

 rising gradually in low undulations to about four hundred feet 

 and upwards at from four to five miles away. This district 

 was all gravelly with a chalk subsoil, the chalk in many places 

 coming up to the surface, while in others it was only reached 

 at a depth of ten or twenty feet. In the total absence of any 

 instruction in nature-knowledge at that period, my impression, 

 and that of most other boys, no doubt, was, that in some way 

 chalk was the natural and universal substance of which the 

 earth consisted, the only question being how deep you must 

 go to reach it. All this country was thickly dotted with 

 woods and coppices, with numbers of parks and old manor 

 houses; and as there were abundance of lanes and footpaths, 

 it offered greater attractions to us boys than the more culti- 



