194 
WALDEN. 
the course of time the handle rotted off, if I had not dis¬ 
turbed it. Making another hole directly over it with 
an ice chisel which I had, and cutting down the longest 
birch which I could find in the neighborhood with my 
knife, I made a slip-noose, which I attached to its end, 
and, letting it down carefully, passed it over the knob of 
the handle, and drew it by a line along the birch, and 
so pulled the axe out again. 
The shore is composed of a belt of smooth rounded 
white stones like paving stones, excepting one or two 
short sand beaches, and is so steep that in many places 
a single leap will carry you into water over your head; 
and were it not for its remarkable transparency, that 
would be the last to be seen of its bottom till it rose on 
the opposite side. Some think it is bottomless. It is 
nowhere muddy, and a casual observer would say that 
there were no weeds at all in it; and of noticeable plants, 
except in the little meadows recently overflowed, which 
do not properly belong to it, a closer scrutiny does not 
detect a flag nor a bulrush, nor even a lily, yellow or 
white, but only a few small heart-leaves and potamoge- 
tons, and perhaps a water-target or two; all which how¬ 
ever a bather might not perceive ; and these plants are 
clean and bright like the element they grow in. The 
stones extend a rod or two into the water, and then the 
bottom is pure sand, except in the deepest parts, where 
there is usually a little sediment, probably from the de¬ 
cay of the leaves which have been wafted on to it so 
many successive falls, and a bright green weed is brought 
up on anchors even in midwinter. 
We have one other pond just like this, White Pond 
in Nine Acre Corner, about two and a half miles wes¬ 
terly; but, though I am acquainted with most of the 
