Even the fen lands were of value, for their rents were paid in eels.

Here is Hrothgar's description of the place where live the monsters, "spirits of elsewhere," as he calls them: They inhabit The dim land that gives shelter to the wolf, The windy headlands, perilous fen paths, Where, under mountain mist, the stream flows down And floods the ground.

But they no longer own the entire lake, for they have been obliged to share it with swans, grebes, coots, loons, fen-ducks, and a lot of others.

' It was among the dikes and marshes of this fen country that the bold outlaw Hereward, "the last of the English," held out for some years against the conqueror.

Day after day I have swept along the great fen-roads, descending from my little hill-range into the flat.

Here, till very lately, stood his "barn," and here he drilled the first squadron of his "Ironsides." My friend and host drove me one day to see a fen-farm a few miles beyond Ramsey, at which we remained over night and enjoyed the old- fashioned English hospitality of the establishment with lively relish.

This was the fortress to overawe the fen districts.