AND ITS PECULIAR BEAUTIES. 45 



The lake occupies one extremity, and a great 

 portion of the valley. It is nearly circular in 

 form, and about one mile in circumference ; its 

 surface tranquil, or ruffled but for a moment 

 by the passing breeze ; its waters fresh, and of 

 a dull-green colour. Its greatest depth, as 

 ascertained by sounding, does not exceed four- 

 teen fathoms. Two spiry cliffs, conspicuous for 

 their majestic height and uniform appearance, 

 bound the lake on opposite sides, many small 

 and silvery waterfalls pouring from their crests, 

 and stealing silently over the short and bright 

 verdure of their precipitous faces into the basin 

 beneath. Its shores are formed in part by the 

 bases of these cliffs ; but chiefly by a beach of 

 soft black sand, strewn with cellular boulders, 

 and by low ledges of breccia, or volcanic rock of 

 a very friable character. Some black and rugged 

 rocks, also, rear their heads above the smooth 

 surface of the lake, presenting a gloomy but 

 powerful contrast to the mild and reposing cha- 

 racter of the surrounding landscape. 



An extensive plain, stretching from the border 

 of the lake to the foot of the more remote hills, 

 is almost entirely covered with a species of 

 Polygonum, very closely resembling the land 

 variety of P. amphibium. Eels are the only fish 

 known to inhabit the lake, and the privilege of 



