44 LONDON PARKS © GARDENS 
William and Mary, which has been already quoted, after 
describing the Ring, says, “ The rest of the park is 
green, and full of deer ; there are large ponds with fish 
and fowle.” The work of draining the ponds and 
forming a river was begun in October 1730, under the 
direction of Charles Withers, Surveyor-General of the 
Woods and Forests. The cost of the large undertaking 
was supposed to come out of the Queen’s privy purse, 
and it was not until after her death that it was found 
that Walpole had supplemented it out of the public 
funds. The West Bourne supplied the new river with 
sufficient water for some hundred years, after which new 
arrangements had to be made, as the stream had become 
too foul. The water supply now comes from two 
sources—one a well 400 feet deep at the west end of 
the Serpentine, where the formal fountains and basins 
were made, about 1861, in front of the building of Italian 
design covering the well. The sculptured vases and 
balustrade with sea-horses are by John Thomas. The 
water in the well stands 172 feet below the ground level, 
and the depth is continually increasing. It is pumped 
up to the “ Round Pond,” and descends by gravity. 
The second supply comes from a well 28 feet deep in 
the gravel on “ Duck Island,” in St. James’s Park. The 
water, which is 19 feet below the surface, remains con¬ 
stant, that level being the same as the water-bearing 
stratum of the Thames valley in London. It is pumped 
up to the Serpentine, and returns to the lake in St. 
James’s Park, supplying the lake in the gardens of Buck¬ 
ingham Palace on the way. The deep well provides 
about 120,000 gallons, and the shallow about 100,000 
a day. The “ Round Pond ”—-which, by the way, is 
not round—affords the greatest delight to the owners, 
