NATURE NEAR LONDON 



stream is now strongest here, and instantly after- 

 wards flickers yonder. 



Where a gap in the willows admits a current of 

 air a ripple starts to rush straight across, but is met 

 by another returning, which has been repulsed from 

 the blufF bow of a moored boat, and the two cross 

 and run through each other. As the level of the 

 stream now slightly rises and again falls, the jagged 

 top of a large stone by the shore alternately appears 

 above, or is covered by the surface. The water 

 as it retires leaves for a moment a hollow in itself 

 by the stone, and then swings back to fill the 

 vacuum. 



Long roots of willows and projecting branches 

 cast their shadow upon the shallow sandy bottom ; 

 the shadow of a branch can be traced slanting 

 downwards with the shelve of the sand till lost in 

 the deeper water. Are those little circlets of light 

 enclosing a round umbra or slightly darker spot, 

 that move along the bottom as the bubbles drift 

 above on the surface, shadows or reflections ? 



In still, dark places of the stream, where there 

 seems no current, a dust gathers on the water, 

 falling from the trees, or borne thither by the wind 

 and dropping where its impulse ceases. Shadows 

 of branches lie here upon the surface itself, received 

 by the greenish water dust. Round the curve on 

 the concave and lee side of the river, where the 

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