and chestnut, lying near them still undecayed. Then, again, in other places, the bottom is muddy, 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 purple pickerel-weed, and the brilliant water-marigold, or Beck's-bidens, 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 perceive 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 Alle-
