90 
SWAMPY PLAINS. 
On the banks of the Great Eiver are tracts of 
low swampy laud, irreclaimable even by the patient 
industry of the Chinese husbandman. These tracts 
ai*e haunted by curlews, snipe, and plover, while 
water-buffaloes, attended by groups of noisy niina- 
birds, alternately ruminate and wallow in the mire. 
Scattered over these swamj^y plains are certain 
sedgy pools, the water of which, though it looks 
black, is veiy clear. The bottom is of soft mud, and 
from it gi’ow the reed, the iris, and the bullrush, 
fringing the peaty margin. Over their emerald 
swords and spears often hangs the little blue-backed 
kingfisher, and up to his knees in water stands 
watchfully the snow-white padi-bii'd. In these 
ponds there is i ]0 lack of fish, and their waters are 
peopled with noisy frogs. Some portions of the 
adjoining ground are pierced like a colander with 
holes, which are the work of the “crab with a 
bloody hand 1 ” 
As in England boys take possession of j)Onds, 
moorlands, and commons, and disport themselves 
therein, not only robbing the humble-bee and 
