Editorial note — APPENDIX.

In the neighbourhood of the Fen rivers there are “Wash-lands,” (the word must not be confounded with The Wash which is a bay), that is, lands liable to be overflowed in winter or in wet seasons. They relieve the river banks from undue pressure of the water which must necessarily pass slowly to sea. The largest “Wash-land” in the fens is between the Old and New Bedford rivers, some 20 miles long and 3⁄4 wide in some parts, containing nearly 6000 acres; this “Wash” is generally overflowed in winter; the water does not overflow the banks, but is let into the Wash through a sluice near Earith. This shallow water is frozen over during hard winters, like that of 1878-9, and forms a firm skating ground for the “Welney skaters,” unsurpassed in speed. If the spring is dry the waters retire, and in early summer the grass is abundant, and upon it may be seen vast numbers of cattle grazing.