{ 5044 y 
tifsier the waten And the water is fo deep before feuvay, that t?ie 
foanding line at the end of four hundred fathoms feems,bccaufe it will 
not ftay,to touch upon fomething flippery.'Tis held to be 500 fathoms 
deep before Roole^, and 'tis affirmed, that near this great depth there 
may be feen a kind of //Z^under water. 
The Rhone enters at one of the points of the eroiffant into the Lake, 
and iflueth out at the other but with this difference, that whereas he 
comes in dirty and miry,he ever goes out fo pure and clear,that under 
the bridge Geneva, where the water is deep twenty five feet in fum- 
merjou may well difcern the fmalleft ftones atthe bottom. And the 
fame water,which in this place appears of a Saphyrin blew in the (hade 
of the Houfes, appears altogether green, nor is fo^tranfparent,wKen 
the Sun fliines onit. 
There is a great diverfity of opinions as to the Current the Rhone 
h\ the Lake v fome maintaining, that it may be difcerned,6thers de- 
nying it. Having heard the fentiraents of the Curious of JOdfifame gni 
Genevd.dLnd the Opinions of the mod knowing Fifhcrraen that are there 
in great number, and efpecially uCaupet, I believe with the latter* 
That, although the Rhone entring into the Lake loofeth its violence' 
yet doth he ill!) keep fome fenfible motion in fomc places, and every 
where obfervable,and that no Troutsare taken any where in this Lake 
but in this Current of the Rhone ^ whick is what thefe Fifliermencall, 
to go diXiAiiih fur I e mom 
Others there are, that go further and fay,th'at one may every where 
diftinguifh the water of the Lake from thar of the Rhone : But the 
Fiftermea will not allow this, but affert^ that there is no otherraark 
thanthofe lately ailedged, -z^?^. of the Trouts^ and the Current ^ and 
that the latter of thefe is alone fufficient, ia calm weather, toobferve 
the Current of Rhone from the place of Ms entring the Lake unto 
jhat of his going out. 
The water of this Lake commonly begins to incrcafe about the end 
of Jmuary\ot th^ beginning of Fehuary^md continues^ to do fo unto 
the twentieth of ^///^,and often unto the very month of Jugufi\ and 
then it infenflbly decreafeth, fo that the water is left high in winter, 
than fumrner by 12 or 15 feet ^ the froJJs draining the Springs 3 . or ra^; 
ther freezing the waters that iffue out of them. 
About this Increafe of the water there are alfo difFerent opinionf! 
*Tis true^they all believe in general,thatthe principal caufeof the in- 
creafe of the water is the melting of the Snow, andof theraountanour 
3ce,that is in the winter formed of th^ waters of the Springs and Tor- 
rents, whi^h the froii: fixeth. This is fo true, that when there is much 
foow in winter, the waters are very high the enftiing Summer. Bur 
when great Rains chance to fall in f^nmry^thtn the Snow, not yet be- 
ing well hardned, mclteth on a fudden altogether. And when this^ 
mekir^g is notfo violent^ali the Snow.that wlU melt^ m^Its at the end 
