apparently doomed process of harnessing power. I know of one working in Suffolk and one in Hampshire, but most of these tide-mills are in extremis. The Sidlesham mills near Chichester have been pulled down and the old tide-mill at Fareham is nothing more now than a picturesque ruin. Of all these rapidly disappearing old-world things there is one happily that does not show any signs of being ousted, and that is the sailing barge. Petrol, which has ousted so many old methods, has actually helped these, for with an auxiliary motor, a barge can be still more effective as a cheap method of transport, being less likely to be held up by adverse weather conditions and able to steal a march on time and tide when opportunity allows. The limit of navigation in the Crouch, even for very small boats, is reached at Wickford, and so our exploration of the possibilities of these upper reaches comes to an end. I IN THE MOUNTAINS OF ESSEX HAVE always held that in travelling over country with sketch-book and note-book, it is a great disadvantage to know too much about it. To approach some well-known region as if it had been unexplored by man, or at any rate by artists, makes for a fresh view of things in general. I am tempted, however, to break this custom in approaching the study of Essex, because I have come across a delightful old book of the eighteenth century entitled: The New British Traveller or A complete modern universal display of Great Britain and Ireland comprising all that is worthy of observation in every county and containing a Full, Ample and Circumstantial Account of every Thing remarkable, etc. Being a Work calculated equally to please the Polite-entertain the Curious-instruct the Uninformed and direct the Traveller. I am told that this book is the first of all "road books in this country and the ancestor, therefore, of the now familiar traveller's vade mecum of the King's Highway. The author's preliminary description of Essex is very intriguing, and it seems that the traveller will encounter many difficulties in this strange land. 'The air of the county in the inland parts is salubrious, but the marshes, and those places which border on the Thames, are very unhealthy, particularly to strangers, who seldom escape agues, the sure consequence of a moist and foggy atmosphere; but those parts which lie to the West and North are as healthy and delightful as any other county in England. It is a common observation that the wise and bountiful Author of nature has so blended his works together, that even those we are apt to find fault with have their peculiar advantages; thus the marshy grounds in Essex afford most excellent pasture; nor is there a county in England where provisions in general are in greater plenty. The London markets are supplied by Essex with vast quantities of corn, and great number of oxen, calves, and sheep; they also breed great numbers of horses, and the |