Grass, milfoil, water crowfoot, hornwort, starwort,
horsetail, and a dozen other delicate plants, form one tangled
forest, denser than those of the Amazon, and more densely peopled
likewise.
To this list will soon be added our Transatlantic curse, Babingtonia
diabolica, alias Anacharis alsin astrum. It has already ascended the
Thames as high as Reading; and a few years more, owing to the present
aqua-vivarium mania, will see it filling every mill-head in England,
to the torment of all millers. Young ladies are assured that the
only plant for their vivariums is a sprig of anacharis, for which
they pay sixpence--the market value being that of a wasp, flea, or
other scourge of the human race; and when the vivarium fails, its
contents, Anacharis and all, are tost into the nearest ditch; for
which the said young lady ought to be fined five pounds; and would
be, if Governments governed. What an 'if'.
But come; for the sun burns bright, and fishing is impossible: lie
down upon the bank, above this stop. There is a campshutting (a
boarding in English) on which you can put your elbows.
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