THE MUSEUM. 



iSr 



escarpment may be considerable and 

 to this reason probably is owing the 

 peculiar form of the lake as it remains, 

 the great depth and rock-bound mar- 

 gin having made impossible any growth 

 or lodgement of vegetation. 



Against this rocky barrier which ex- 

 ists as a straight base line, the lakelet 

 lies imprisoned with a beautiful semi- 

 circular outline, while out over the 

 marsh far beyond, though not having 

 as exact an outline, is the enclosing 

 forest-wall. 





III!" 



Lake in Saratoga County, N. Y., in active pro- 

 cess of occlusion. 



Our first sight of this-" secluded lake 

 was had as we came out of the forest 

 onto the marsh at a point nearly op- 

 posite the center of the rocky, wooded 

 shore-line. The view from here was 

 most peculiar, a large expanse of 

 marsh-land dotted near the border 

 with a few stunted tamaracks, while 

 directly in front like a jewel in green 

 setting was the small body of dark blue 

 water lying against its forest-clad bar- 

 rier of ancient gneiss and looking as 

 though it might at a word, or touch, 

 rush down over the marsh and engulf 

 the beholder; for certainly it had the 

 appearance of lying at a decidedly 

 higher level than was our point of 

 view. I cannot explain this appear- 



ance or illusion unless it was due to- 

 the uniform level of the intervening 

 marsh, and that the water level of the 

 lake was but a few inches below that 

 of the surface of the surrounding marsh. 

 At any rate it was a strange and cur- 

 ious sight, and once seen — a sight not 

 soon to be forgotten. As we advanced 

 over the marsh we noticed that by 

 jumping one could cause all of the 

 stunted tamaracks within a radius of 

 many feet to sway to and fro. This 

 however, besides being rather uncanny 

 business, is perhaps dangerous sport as 

 the jumper might come down too 

 hard and go through into the soft stuff 

 below. 



Nearing the water's edge we found 

 boards lain on the moss so that we 

 were able to go to the very verge. 

 This had been done by fishermen, as 

 this little sheet of water is, or rather, 

 was, famous for the numbers and size 

 of the pickerel taken therein, in fact 

 our visit was partly due to our knowl- 

 edge of this. Standing on these hem- 

 lock boards which lay so near the mar- 

 gin that our weight would cause them 

 to settle until actually under water, we 

 could reach over the bog-edge and 

 move our fish-poles about in the open 

 water underneath the very mat on 

 which we stood. 



This interesting little lake — it is 

 nameless so far as I know — though 

 doubtless very slowly decreasing in 

 size due to the encroachments of the 

 morass — will probably retain some 

 open water for a century or more, but 

 its ultimate fate is certain: unless some 

 change come about in the physical 

 condition of the region it is a doomed 

 lake. 



Glenville, N. Y., 



April I, 1896. 



