CRAUMERE POOL. 
147 
fall rather under the denomination of morasses or 
bogs in the generality of cases. Craumere Pool the 
largest of these collections of water, is the celebra¬ 
ted fount whence many of the Devonshire rivers are 
derived, but still offers to the view more the cha¬ 
racter of a swamp or bog than that of a lake.* 
The schist tracts broken as they are into number¬ 
less hills, and presenting numerous specimens of 
upland rallies , are yet so disposed as to afford no 
sites for the accumulation of stationary waters by 
broad expanses of hollowed land between the ele¬ 
vations. On the contrary, the eminences closely 
approximate, and furnish steep and narrowed 
passages for the rivulets. 
With respect to Bovey Heathfleld , some diffe¬ 
rence of opinion exists as to its actual elevation 
comparatively with the sea, for, according to some 
* “ We missed Craumere Pool , and it is not to be wondered at 
“ that we did so ; the precise situation is found with difficulty 
“ even by those who are well acquainted with the topography of 
“ Dartmoor. We must at one time have been very near it. Several 
“ of the Devonshire rivers are said to have their rise from this 
“ pool;—strictly speaking, that is not however the case, the 
“ rivers rise from various parts of the morass around the pool: 
u the bogs encircle it for miles. This curious pool, from its ob- 
“ scure situation, has been but seldom visited by travellers ;—a 
“ friend who saw it a few years ago has favoured me with the 
“ following particulars :— 1 Craumere Pool is of an oblong form, 
" about 150 feet in length and 80 feet in breadth : it was not full 
“ of water, which gushes from a bed of gravel beneath the stratum 
“ of peat bog. I descended about ten feet to the edge of the 
“ water. It cannot be approached with horses on account of 
u the quaking bogs, and although provided with a guide, I should 
“ have missed the spot if a labourer had not pointed it out to me.’ ” 
Jones’Obs, on Scenery, fyc. of Moreton Hampstead and Dartmoor, p. 54. 
