40 NATURAL HISTORY 



are three considerable lakes, Hogmer, 

 Cranmer, and Wohner; all of which are 

 stocked with carp, tench, eels, and 

 perch : but the fish do not thrive well, 

 because the water is hungry, and the 

 bottoms are a naked sand. 



A circumstance respecting these ponds, 

 though by no means peculiar to them, I 

 cannot pass over in silence ; and that is, 

 that instinct by which in Summer all the 

 kine, whether oxen, cows, calves, or 

 heifers, retire constantly to the water dur- 

 ing the hotter hours ; where, being more 

 exempt from flies, and inhaling the cool- 

 ness of that element, some belly deep, 

 and some only to mid-leg, they ruminate 

 and solace themselves from about ten in 

 the morning till four in the afternoon, 

 and then return to their feeding. During 

 this great proportion of the day they drop 

 much dung, in which insects nestle ; and 

 so supply food for the fish, which would 

 be poorly subsisted but from this contin- 

 gency. Thus Nature, who is a great 



