Chap. VIII.
51 1
breasts, rugged thighs, bunched knees, bended legs, swollen ankles, preposterous feet, openmouths, and hoarse cries. A vivid and too correct a description of a population, born anddwelling in such a pestilential marsh, and one which should animate not only a govern-ment, but every individual of the community to lend his aid in reversing : it ought to befelt as a stain upon the national philanthropy that many portions of the saint’s dream arestill realities.
In the time of Edward the Confessor , a firm causeway was made of wood and gravelacross Deeping Fen, which reached from the town of that name to Spalding, for the useof passengers, ami is described by Ingulphus as most sumptuous and valuable ; variousearth-banks were also thrown up by the Saxons to protect their habitations from inun-dation ; but nothing appears to have been done by that people upon an extensive scale inthe wav of draining. The Romans are supposed to have constructed the Carr or Caer dyke,which acts as a vast catch-water drain to the whole North Level, and which would, if in agood condition, drain upwards of 12,000 acres. This great work extended originally from theriver Nene, below Peterborough, to the city of Lincoln, and also to the Trent at Torksey.'The fens adjoining the Wash are said now to contain 217 square miles, between the hillson the south and south-east, and the rivers Ouse and Cam ; 394 square miles betweenthese rivers and the Nene ; 389 square miles between the Nene and Glen rivers, 414 squaremiles between the Glen and Old Witliam ; and 201 square miles between the Old Withamand Tetney drain ; making a total of 1615 square miles, or 1,033,360 acres.
The fens are generally lower the more distant they are from the sea : the difficulty ofdrawing off the water is therefore considerably increased : but this has been most admirablyeffected, by paying due attention to the outfall, by preventing the upland waters fromrunning or spreading over them, collecting it in catch-water drains, discharging it in thebest manner, and always taking for a cut the shortest possible course towards the sea.
Much has been done to effect the drawing off the waters by improving the outfalls ; butto get rid of it entirely, mechanical means are requisite. The Dutch mills pumped upconsiderable quantities; but not being regular in their movements, the steam enginebus been generally adopted; at Deeping Fen, near Spalding, one supplies the place of forty-four windmills.
It is generally found necessary to raise the water from 3 to 4 feet; and for this purposescooped wheels are made use of, the float-boards of which dip 5 feet below the water’s sur-face, or 6 feet 6 inches below the land. The main drains are twelve inches deeper than thewheel track, and the scoop-wheels are made of cast iron, with wooden float-boards, like theundershot wheel of a water-mill; but with this difference, that they are moved by steampower, and lift the water. The float-boards move on a trough of masonry, into which theyfit exactly, the lower end being open to the main drain, and the upper communicating withthe river, which is kept out when the wheel is not at work by lock gates. The float-boards do not radiate from the centre of the wheel, but form an angle of 45 degrees with thehorizon, at the point where they deliver the water. The diameter of the wheels is so con-trived, that the surface of the water in the outfall river is never more in height than 4 or5 feet above its axis, which prevents the water passing over the float-boards, and finding itsway back again. The speed given to the circumference of these wheels is about 6 feet persecond.
At Pode Hole, in Deeping Fen, a steam-engine of eighty horse power, and a water wheelof 28 feet diameter, with the float-boards of 5 feet 6 inches in depth, and 5 feet wide, movingat the rate of 6 feet per second, discharged 165 cubic feet of water per second; the float-boards dipping 3 feet 4 inches, and the average consumption of coal being 10.^ pounds perhorse power per hour. The expense annually in this district docs not exceed 2s. 6d. peracre, independent of the first cost of the engine and machinery attached, which may be cal-culated at 20s. per acre.
Deeping Fen, consisting of 25,000 acres, has two steam engines of about 140 horse power.
Marchwtst Fen , containing about 3600 acres, has a 40 horse engine: the same power isapplied to Misterton Sas.
Littleport Fen , near Ely, has two steam engines of 110 horse power, to drain 28,000 acres :there were formerly seventv-live windmills. The scoop-wheel is 35 feet in diameter, andweighs 54 tons; the pinion is 4 feet in diameter, weighs 33 cwt., and makes thirteen revo-lutions in a minute: when the tide is high, this pinion works into awheel 24 feet indiameter, having internal teeth ; the float-boards on the scoop-wheel then move with a ve-locity of 212 feet per minute, and discharge in that time 3519 cubic feet of water. Whenthe tide is low, the pinion is made to work in another wheel 16 feet in diameter, which hasexternal teeth; the float-boards then move at the rate of 318 feet per minute, and deliver5278 cubic feet of water in that time.
Middle Fen, near Soham, has 7000 acres drained by an engine of 60 horse power, and"NVaterbeach Level has a similar engine to drain 5f>00 acres. Other engines are employedin various districts; and it is surprising that so small a quantity of mechanical power isfound adequate to drain such an extent of marshy land so effectually. It has been estimated