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ACCOUNT OF THE 
“Floating Island in Derwent Lake, 
KESWICK. 
BY MR. JONATHAN OTLEY. 
In a Letter to Mr. Dalton. 
(Read Noy. 4, 1814.) 
Tue appellation of Floating Island given 
to a phenomenon which sometimes appears in 
Derwent Lake, has led many to imagine it 
a detached piece of earth, floating upon the 
water, unconnected with any other thing; 
this however is not the case. A portion of 
earth about six feet in thickness, certainly 
rises from the bottom, to the surface of the 
lake; but it is still connected with the adja- 
cent parts, by a gradual sloping descent; so 
that a much greater extent is raised from the 
bottom, than reaches to the surface of the 
water. 
The place where it makes its appearance is 
in the south east corner of the lake, not far 
from Lowdore, generally about one hundred 
and fifty yards from shore, where the lake is 
of no great depth, as from three to six feet in 
an usual state: The times of its appearance 
