WASTWATER. 95 



made to supply their wants for which we 

 may well be grateful, though of course it is 

 for their profit. Now let us be off for the lake, 



AMICUS. Inform me, if you please, as we 

 go, about the lake, this Wastwater a dreary 

 name, if " wast " signifies as I infer waste, 

 its aspect is so dark and gloomy. 



PISCATOE. Certainly ; and it may owe this its 

 name to the colour of its shore, which you may 

 perceive is composed chiefly of dark rock and 

 shingle, to the depth of its water, and the shade, 

 and that especially of the mountain ridge which 

 rises so abruptly from its southern side. The 

 lake you see conforms in shape to the majority 

 of those of the larger size belonging to the dis- 

 trict, its length greatly exceeding its width ; 

 the one about three miles and a half, the other 

 about half a mile where widest. In depth, 

 it is hardly second to any: it was sounded, 

 I have been told, in different places by an 

 accurate observer, Colonel Mudge of the Eoyal 

 Engineers, in 1818 and 1826; and found, where 

 deepest, to be 47 fathoms or 282 feet. Owing 

 to this, its depth, it is somewhat paradoxical 

 in its qualities. It is reported never to freeze, 

 and yet to be very cold. That it never freezes 





