REMARKS ON A FLOATING ISLAND. 227 



half an acre. Its surface is thickly studded with 

 Dogwood, although not a bush of it is found 

 beyond the limits of the island, as though it 

 were an enemy to the water that surrounds it. 

 There are upon it, six large trees, two of which 

 measure in girth three feet and upwards, besides 

 several clusters of willow trees of small growth. 

 These rise and fall with the island. The pond 

 is usually dry during the summer months, and 

 at these seasons the island has been found so 

 low, that you would descend perceptibly, in 

 passing to it from tlie dry bed of the pond. I 

 visited it yesterday, and found it elevated about 

 eighteen inches above the level of the pond's 

 bottom, owing to the rains that have recently 

 fallen." 



"The customary rise of the pond in the fall 

 and spring, is about eight feet, although it has 

 been known to rise twelve: the island preserves 

 the same elevation above the surface of the water 

 in the different periods of its rise. I have been 

 told, by a man of unequivocal veracity, that he 

 has forced a pole, ten feet long, down through 

 the centre of the island, and with this as far 

 as he could extend with his arm, he has been 

 unable to meet with a solid and permanent 

 bottom. He also informed me, that, when the 

 pond was very high, these large trees standing 

 2 f2 



