Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/139

 of the animal, who turning again into the road to Cartmel, at length brought them in safety to their homes. On the ensuing day, the bodies of the faithful old couple were found upon the sands.

Several small fords or rivulets, working their way through the sands, presented themselves after we had passed the great one of the Kent; but no difficulty or danger ever arises from their insignificance. Instead of inconvenience, indeed, they are productive of profit and utility; abounding with flat fish called flook, and containing also salmon, which are caught by nets stretched across their beds, and examined at the ebb tide. For a certain distance from the shore the right of fishing in these streams belongs to Lord Derby; but beyond this point the sands and fords are common property, open to all the sons of industry.

Having traversed eight miles of sands, we at length gained the opposite shore at Hestbank, and drove through a country rich but flat, for three miles; catching in our way the august: castle and church of Lancaster (to which we were hastening) circling the summit of a proud hill; the new canal; and the immense aqueduct, lately constructed over the Kirby-Lonsdale road to the left. A new bridge of live elegant elliptical arches, carried us across the beautiful river Lime, and shortly afterwards we