CHAP. XL.] WENHAM LAKE. 359 



is surrounded by hills of sand and gravel, from forty 

 to a hundred feet high. The water is always clear 

 and pure, and the bottom covered w T ith white quart- 

 zose sand. It is fed by springs, and receives no mud 

 from any stream flowing into it; but at the lower 

 extremity a small brook of transparent water flows 

 out. In some parts, however, there must, I presume, 

 be a soft and muddy bottom, as it is inhabited by 

 eels, as well as by pickerell and perch. Mr. Oakes 

 had recently received a present of a snapping turtle, 

 weighing 25 Ibs., taken from the lake. The ice is con 

 veyed by railway to Boston to be shipped, and the 

 increase of business has of late been such as to cause 

 the erection of new buildings, measuring 127 feet by 

 120, and 24 feet high. They stand on the water s 

 edge, by the side of the old storehouses, which are 

 very extensive, built of wood, with double walls two 

 feet apart, the space between being filled with saw 

 dust, which excludes the external air ; while tan is 

 heaped up, for the same purpose, on the outside. 

 The work of cutting and storing the ice is carried on 

 in winter, and is not commenced till the ice is at least 

 a foot thick. The surface is always carefully swept 

 and kept free from snow ; and as none but the most 

 compact and solid ice is fit for the market, it is neces 

 sary to shave off three inches or more of the super 

 ficial ice, by means of a machine called an ice-plane, 

 drawn by a horse. This operation is especially re 

 quired after a thaw or a fall of rain, succeeded by a 

 frost, which causes the lake to be covered with opake, 

 porous ice. 



Sir Francis Head, in his &quot; Emigrant,&quot; 1846, has 



