THE WONDERS OF THE SHORE. GA 
where we stand the pebbly beach is not six feet 
above the water, and slopes away steeply into the 
valley behind us, while before us it shelves gra- 
dually into the lake; forty yards out, as you know, 
there is not ten feet water; and then a steep bank, 
the edge whereof we and the big trout know well, 
sinks suddenly to unknown depths. On the oppo- 
site side, that flat-topped wall of rock towers up 
shoreless into the sky, seven hundred feet perpen- 
dicular ; the deepest water of all we know is at its 
very foot. Right and left, two shoulders of down 
slope into the lake. Now turn round and look 
down the gorge. Remark that this pebble bank 
on which we stand reaches some fifty yards down- 
ward: you see the loose stones peeping out every- 
where. We may fairly suppose that we stand on 
a dam of loose stones, a hundred feet deep. 
But why loose stones ?—and if so, what matter’ 
and what wonder? There are rocks cropping out 
everywhere down the hill-side. 
Because if you will take up one of these stones 
and crack it across, you will see that it is not of 
