( 504S ) 
ofi^^i^or at the beginning of fo that, there remaining but the 
^ock of Ice for entertaining the increafe of the water unto the month 
Angnfi^ fome have. thence been induced to fay, that this increafc, 
which amounts, as hath been faid, to 15. feet water generally all over 
the Lak^.is caufed by the herbs, growing, as they pretend, at its bottom 
in great abundance ^ and that thefe herbs, whiiil: growing , do force 
the water upwards, and dying in autumn make the water to fink lower. 
"Which is not fatisfadory to rae,becaufe therci are no herbs feen upon 
the Lake , and very little within it, and the banks being very 
dry. 
Others there are, that will have this water rarified by the heat of the 
Sun,and thereupon fwelled on the borders.hot water not being fo high 
in the middle as cold. 
This is certain, that all the rivers and torrents, that fall into this 
Lake, carry with them ftore of flones and earth, which may indeed en- 
large and raife it : But fuch an augmentation or rife cannot be fen- 
fible but from age to age; not to mention, that in winter, whilftihe 
water is low, the ftones of the Lake arc carried away for building ot. 
fortifying at Geneva^ 
At the iffuing out of the barrcs,that forme Genevs.ovi the fide of the 
Lake, are feen in the water two or three hugeFlints, (landing out of the 
'water the chief of which they call Niton : And the tradition is, that 
it formerly was an Altar confecrated to Neftme-^ there being alfo a 
place cut out in the middle,which they take to have been the place for 
the facrifice. On this Flint fevcn or eight perfons can fit ^ and fome- 
timcsjwhcn the waters are very low, there are found about it knives,' 
and needles as thick as bodkins of tweefes, and much longer s both of 
brafs^well enough made, and cfteeraed to have ferved for the facrifices. 
This Lake in ferene and calm weather appears fometimes , and that 
even before Sun-riring,as if it were made of divers pieces, differently 
coloured; part of it being browner than the reft : which feeras to be 
caufed by a breath of wind paffing thorow the water, coming either 
from the bottom of the Lake,or from above s though others think this 
gentle agitation to proceed from fome fprings that are at the bottom, 
making the water (liiver above»But that part of the water, that is no,s 
moved, appears as even and fraooth as a looking-glafs, or like water 
traced by a (hip. And as for the Colors, they are, in ray opinion, an ef-> 
fed of the neighbouring mountains, the different images of which, be- 
ing confounded in the water,make an appearance of very pale colours. 
After that the Rhone is entred into the Lake, he retakes not his im- 
petuous courfe before a quarter of a mile*sdi(lance from its coming 
forth again, that is, above Geneva, And the nearer he comes to that 
Town,the more his bed becoms narrow , and confequentiy his courfe 
more rapid. Yet this rapidnefs hath been in our times once furmoun- 
led by wipd,and once by water.To underftand wiiich, you may ima- 
Eecee 2 gine. 
