Drainage of Whittlesea Merc. 
139 
were now reduced to tlie lowest ebb : others perhaps with whom 
the love of stewed eels ])reponderate(l over sentiment, from the 
pi»spect of a ready and abundant <j;ratification of their taste. Of 
the hundreds — it would be no exaggeration probably to say 
thousands — who had assembled, nine out of ten came provided 
with sacks and baskets to carry off their share of the vast number 
of fish, which, wherever the eye turned, were floundering- in the 
ever-decreasing water. Some more ambitious speculators brought 
tlieir carts, ancl gathering the fish by the ton weight, despatched 
them for sale to Birmingham and Manchester. Contrary to 
expectation, no fish of very great size was taken ; the largest 
ascertained was a pike of 22 lbs. 
So deep and tenacious was the mud, that even with boards 
attached to the soles of the shoe, it was a matter of extreme 
labour to move about ; and an undue anxiety to seize a lively eel 
or vigorous jack was sure to lead to an irrecoverable downfall, 
or to a set-fast in some ungainly position. It is impossible to 
imagine a more singular scene, and as the fading light of a blood- 
red sunset fell on the vast multitudes of figures scattered in all 
directions over the dreary waste of slimy ooze, it left on the mind 
the same sort of impression of the supernatural as is left by 
some of Martin's ambitious pictui-es. 
Among the many novelties in the exhibition of 1851 the model 
of the now well-known Appold Pump attracted the attention of 
the promoters of the draining of Whittlesea Mere, and after some 
encouraging conferences on the subject with Messrs. Easton and 
Amos, it was determined to erect one at a spot suitable for main- 
taining the drainage of the district ; and by the middle of 
December in the same year, a 25-horse engine and an Appold 
pump were ready for use. It was calculated that the pump would 
lift 16,000 gallons a minute Avitli a 6-foot lift, and of course more 
in proportion as the height of the lift was decreased. Nor was it 
long before this calculation was put to an unexpectedly severe test. 
The summer after the completion of the engine was actively 
employed in shaping the unbroken expanse of mud into some- 
thing like an agricultural tract. Dykes were made — roads 
marked out — boundaries of farms arranged, and in some cases 
the terms for letting the embryo farms actually agreed upon. 
Everything looked promising for the future well-being of the 
new-born district, when, on the 12th of November, the water in 
the outer rivers being swollen by heavy rains, and pressing 
against the newly-formed banks with a force they Avere unable to 
withstand, a breach was made, and in a few hours Whittlesea 
Mere was itself again. 
Disheartening as was this untoward event, it showed — at the 
least calamitous moment that it could have occurred — where the 
weak point was ; it necessitated the testing to the utmost tho 
