320 SALMONIA. 



tween Nazareit and Reiti. The highest 

 lake fed by melted snows in March, when I 

 saw it, was bright blue. It discharged itself 

 by a small stream into another, into which a 

 number of large pines had been blown by 

 a winter storm, or fallen from some other 

 cause : in this lake its colour was blue green. 

 In a third lake, in which there were not only 

 pines and their branches, but likewise other 

 decaying vegetable matter, it had a tint of 

 faded grass green; and these changes oc- 

 curred in a space not much more than a 

 mile in length. These observations I made 

 in 1815: on returning to the same spot 

 twelve years after, in August and September, 

 I found the character of the lakes entirely 

 changed. The pine wood washed into the 

 second lake had disappeared ; a large quantity 

 of stones and gravel, washed down by tor- 

 rents, or detached by an avalanche, supplied 

 their place : there was no perceptible differ- 

 ence of tint in the two upper lakes ; but the 

 lower one, where there was still some vege- 

 table matter, seemed to possess a greener 

 hue. The same principle will apply to the 



