is sadly interfered with by the insects and the miasma
which the marsh produces.

The inherent wealth of the land is locked up, and all of its bad effects
are produced, by the water with which it is constantly soaked or
overflowed. Let the waters of the sea be excluded, and a proper outlet for
the rain-fall and the upland wash be provided,--both of which objects may,
in a great majority of cases, be economically accomplished,--and this land
may become the garden of the continent. Its fertility will attract a
population, (especially in the vicinity of large towns,) which could no
where else live so well nor so easily.

The manner in which these salt marshes were formed may be understood from
the following account of the "Great Level of the Fens" of the eastern
coast of England, which is copied, (as is the paragraph at the head of
this chapter,) from the Prize Essay of Mr. John Algernon Clarke, written
for the Royal Agricultural Society in 1846.

The process is not, of course, always the same, nor are the exact
influences, which made the English Fens, generally, operating in precisely
the same manner here, but the main principle is the same, and the lesson
taught by the improvement of the Fens is perfectly applicable in our case.

"This great level extends itself into the six counties of Cambridge,
Lincoln, Huntington, Northampton, Suffolk and Norfolk, being bounded by
the highlands of each. It is about seventy miles in length, and varies
from twenty to forty miles in breadth, having an area of more than 680,000
acres. Through this vast extent of flat country, there flow six large
rivers, with their tributary streams; namely, the Ouse, the Cam, the Nene,
the Welland, the Glen, and the Witham.

"These were, originally, natural channels for conveying the upland waters
to the sea, and whenever a heavier downfall of rain than usual occurred,
and the swollen springs and rivulets caused the rivers to overflow, they
must necessarily have overflowed the land to a great extent.

"This, however, was not the principal cause of the inundation of the Fens:
these rivers were not allowed a free passage to the ocean, being thus made
incapable of carrying off even the ordinary amount of upland water which,
consequently, flowed over the land. The obstruction was two-fold; first,
the outfalls became blocked up by the deposits of silt from the sea
waters, which accumulated to an amazing thickness. The well known
instances of boats foun