The Sun.
London, England, 1862-06-23 00:00:00

IN A BOAT OVER THE NORFOLK FENS.

,e•
We made but slow progress through the waters. The
tide was ebbing, and we bad it against us. Sometimes as
we passed along, the twigs of a submerged hedge would
grate against the bottom of the., boat; sometimes as we
rowed across a little hillock, or a raised portion of one of
the roads which divided the country, the boat would strike.
Once we got aground, and once we had to get out, that our
boat might be pushed over a dry bank whieb. It was neces-
sary to cross. Row dreary the few scattered and deserted
houses looked as we approached them I It is true that the
inhabitants might, if they had chosen, have continued to
occupy the upper floors, which were high and dry, lut
there would have been risk in it. 'When the wind rose,
the waters of this great inland sea became rough, and
doubtless such a epechnenas the neighbours had lately seen
of the power of the tide made them mistrustful of the
strength of their submerged foundations, continuously ex •
posed to the action of the water. Most of the windows
were blocked up with closed shutters, and some of the doo:s
were carefully pedlocked ; for, disgraceful to relate, before
the goods had all been removed from the houses, there had
been wretches who took advantage of this miserable dis-
aster to go out in boats in search of any plunder they could
lay their hands upon. Here and there one would see some
agricultural implement lift upon the thatch of a shed or
outhouse. Sometimes the handles of a wheelbarrow would
appear sticking up out of the water ; in one place the shafts
of a cart that had been abandoned to its fate, rose up above
the level of the flood. At last we came to a cottage that
seemed to have been less carefully secured than the rest, and
having found a gap in the fence of thelittle orchard that sur-
rounded it, we rowed through the fence, the stakes of the
hedge grating ever so little as we passed. The little apple-
trees in the orchard were partly covered with blossom, and on
some of the branches the fruit had even set. It was lohsev
water, as I have said, and we could see on the treesst
of
brown mark left by the higher tides. All the por.triosnekisb.
the foliage which had come in contact with b
ithecea of what
water had turned brown. It gave one sol
the orchard,
after the flood was over.
Passing throng
its head above
and by the mockery of a Put" which
the aspect of things would be when the °red was drained
the cottage door, and
the waters, we drew quite
_nethare
too , of
made a sucking k
thei ngya kindtwater
action of the water was
spletauwsleyd .
wavinglt wasit
swayed by a ghostly
abpaeckwanda.rdds and forwards as if it were
against the walls of the little
as it sucked and
c"PPestroke of the
rooms within. Another oars, and the prow
of the boat was absolutelythrust in at the door of the cot-
tage.aoaf d theA building,no ise
came from the interior
The boat stuck in the doorway, and I looked around
Never was a more desolate place seen. The water
me. Never
in occupation; it made the flooring of the rooms—for
all the doors were open—and I could see glimpses of the
different rooms on this lower storey. A medicine bottle
was left on the chimney-piece of the chief apartment, a yel-
w ere I
was
S il ely perched
the spirit was
a a f
low paper fly-catcher hung from the ceiling, and close to
h ll colouredagart hprint
himself of
mustthe Ghraevaet
Eastern
risen in the night and hung it there 1 After I had looked
and listened long enough we pushed away from the cot-
tage, and left it with the water still chopping up against the
walls
andas thetha
aduororrensttiallhwasaavtiangsway i
slowlyt back-
wards
androoms,
forwards
We rowed through the gate (it was a tight fit for our boat)
of the enclosure in which the church stood, and, as there
was here some three or four feet of water, we managed to
get close up to the building, so that we could see in at the
windows. The water was not so high, though, as it had
been a few days before, when one of the men in the boat
with me had been to the church with other authorised per-
eons to remove the communion-plate to some place of
safety. The man who had unlocked the church door on
that occasion had to plunge his hand deep under water to
get at the keyhole, and, when the door was open, waded
breast-high through the church to get to the spot where the
plate was kept. There was water enough now to float ae
contents of the little chapel, and wonderful the interior of
the building looked. The pulpit seemed to have been
set, to judge from the appearance of same largeobobe hap
floated
floated longwise in the water ; and as to the be.:a..
were tumbled hither and thither in all co
tsnferbur
ficowatTg
but all afloat. And there, in a place by it
told me was
min
Pz"'
great white bundle, which the men fri „ 411 the
boatef other, was a
no other thing than the surfli.--
Year Round."
too, on a bench which was piled on theti

PERMANENT EXHIBITION IN PARIS.—The pro.
ject fora permanent Exhibition in Paris where specimens
of the manufactures and products of every country will bo
tacuddhAy gtlrliecult
collected in one spacious building, in order that dealer s and
consumers from all parts of the world may see them, has
met with the entire approval of the Emperor Napoleon 111.
haveissued the necessaryautherit yfer carryingout the under-
ure
The MiniAsteerpoefe
iFaiit3laiencenocaenhdaosf.
been
mge
granted
ac
ne
t iking.
Ministers for the adraissiJn of all foreign above
duty, with liberty to re-export them wiu P at eta free of
tout
duties ; or to sell them on the spot onpayment of
im-
posed by the new international tariff. paying, the duties
Ihe whole of
tab amounting to 1600,000„ has been
tal,
palace which is in course of c subscribed in France.
rail-
way station at Auteuil, in Paris,construction near the
poses of the Exhibition early will be opened for the pur-
poses
stated that the building in the summer of 1863. It
International Exhibition. will surpass in size the present
France and several on.
The amount of space allotted to
been taken other Continental countries has already
-
been It is
factures of the same nature
that all pro3uctsrldlaruceantitii
shall be classified an p land
in
so that those of different COautnes may he
i compared by intending purchasers.