THE LAKE. 
169 
and chestnut, lying near them still undecayed. Then, again, in 
other places, the bottom is mviddy, and thickly covered with a 
growth of aquatic plants of various kinds. There must be a good 
number of these plants in our lake, judging from those we have 
already gathered or seen. They vary much in their construction ; 
all springing as they do from the same watery nursery, one might 
expect them to be much like each other, and to differ decidedly 
from those of the fields ; but such is not the case. Some are 
thick and rough, like the reeds, the water-lilies, and the pickerel- 
weed ; but others are as fine and delicate in their foliage as those 
that grow in the air. Many of those which raise their flowers 
above the water bear handsome blossoms, like the lilies, the pur- 
ple pickerel- weed, and the brilhant water-marigold, or Beck's-bi- 
dens, which is found in Canaderaga Lake, about twelve miles from 
us ; others are dull and unsightly, and some of these form an 
ugly patch in shallow spots, near our wharf, for a few weeks in 
August. 
But this fringe of reeds and plants is only seen here and there in 
shallow spots ; a few strokes of the oar will carry a boat at once into 
water much too deep to be fathomed by the eye. The depth of 
the lake is usually given at a hundred and fifty feet. It has no 
tributaries beyond a few nameless brooks, and is chiefly fed by 
•springs in its own bosom. Of course, where such is the case, the 
amount of water varies but little ; it has never overflowed its banks, 
and when the water is called low, a stranger would hardly per- 
ceive the fact. 
This afternoon we rowed across Black-bird Bay, and followed 
the shady western bank some distance. Landed and gathered 
wild flowers, meadow-sweet, white silk-weed, clematis, and AUe- 
8 
