A WATER-TELESCOPE. 177 



right down into the clear water beneath, just as if 

 there were no ripples or waves at all. 



Sometimes a water-telescope is made by taking 

 the bottom out of a wooden pail and putting a 

 circle of glass in its place. But it is generally 

 easier to fit a pane of glass into a strong box, and 

 then make all the cracks tight by the use of putty 

 and paint. 



The best water-telescope that I ever looked 

 through was set in the bottom of a boat. In fact, 

 there were four of them, set end to end, so that 

 they ran almost from one end of the boat to the 

 other. The boat had been built on purpose for 

 them, and was wide and flat. In the center was 

 an open space, or well, which had no bottom at 

 all, though a strong curb ran around it, so that 

 the water could not come into the boat, even when 

 it was well loaded. 



In this well were set the telescopes, which were 

 deep, narrow boxes, just fitting the curb. Their 

 bottoms were of clear plate glass, which was kept 

 very clean by frequent washings with a soft 

 sponge. There was a kind of canopy over the 

 boat to keep off the bright light from above, for 

 the things we wanted to see were all beneath us. 

 There were seats along the sides of the boat for 

 the passengers, and one cross-seat near the end 



W.S.E. VOL. 8—12 



