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- 
luke. 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 
Features. 
Purity of 
lake wate. 
