THE SILURUS GLANIS. 167 
going to give an account, and as its physical features 
are most remarkable, it will not be out of place to 
enter into a short description of it. The soil in its 
neighbourhood is composed of peat, and the ground 
becomes more and more boggy at a distance of a 
quarter of a mile from the margin of the lake. As 
we got nearer to it, we perceived that we were no 
longer on ¢erra firma, the ground sinking and undu- 
lating under our feet at every step, and soon becom- 
ing perfectly impracticable without the aid of.a pair of 
long planks or oars, upon which to step, and which, 
‘by offering a greater surface of resistance, prevent 
one’s sinking into, or rather completely breaking 
through, a yard-thick crust of vegetable matter and 
soil, covered with a very luxuriant crop of grass and 
reeds, and resting on the surface of the water. A 
little farther on, perhaps a hundred yards from the 
visible margin of the lake, the crust, which to the 
very brink has the appearance of a meadow, is so 
thin that it bears only the weight of the ducks and 
snipes which rise in every direction. 
Finding the walking over this treacherous ground 
~—~which, moreover, is frequently interrupted by regular 
holes and channels—inconsistent with our terrestrial 
habits, we went to a landing-place and took one of 
the boats, a very clumsy kind of punt, with a flat 
bottom and vertical sides ; it was propelled by a pole 
about twelve feet long, dilated into a blade at one 
