STILL WATERS 



177 



it the likeness is lost, or rather changed, for 

 now it looks like a flat arena of blue-steel, and 

 the tiers of hills may sweep around it like the 

 benches of a Roman circus. 



The cliff with its feet in the water, its sides 

 dripping with the moisture of mosses and its 

 top tufted with pines, the cave with its shad- 

 owed entrance and sunken rocks, the gorge 

 where the brook comes into the lake, the little 

 island, the pebbly strand, the overhanging trees 

 and bushes, are all essentials of the mountain- 

 lake. Even more necessary than these, per- 

 haps, is the purity of the water a necessity 

 that is generally met For though brooks 

 may empty sand and mud into it there is 

 no great motion of currents through the 

 lake, and the brook water soon drops its bur- 

 den to the bottom. Lake water is also, as a 

 rule, quite clear so clear that it will not, 

 unless ruffled, take cognizance of a shadow, 

 and will register sky reflection with the utmost 

 delicacy. It may have a greenish or bluish local 

 color, which we can see when the wind turns 

 up its surface in little waves, and we may see 

 this local color again at times by looking 

 straight down into the lake depths ; but there 

 is usually no cloudiness about the water. After 



Lake 



feature*. 



Purity of 

 lake water. 



