The water is so transparent that the bottom can easily be discerned at the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet.  Paddling over it， you may see， many feet beneath the surface， the schools of perch and shiners， perhaps only an inch long， yet the former easily distinguished by their transverse bars， and you think that they must be ascetic fish that find a subsistence there.  Once， in the winter，many years ago， when I had been cutting holes through the ice in order to catch pickerel， as I stepped ashore I tossed my axe back on to the ice， but， as if some evil genius had directed it， it slid four or five rods directly into one of the holes， where the water was twenty-five feet deep.  Out of curiosity， I lay down on the ice and looked through the hole， until I saw the axe a little on one side， standing on its head， with its helve erect and gently swaying to and fro with the pulse of the pond； and there it might have stood erect and swaying till in the course of time the handle rotted off，if I had not disturbed 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 potamogetons， and perhaps a water-target or two； all which however 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 decay 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 westerly； but， though I am acquainted with most of the ponds within a dozen miles of this centre I do not know a third of this pure and well-like character. Successive nations perchance have drank at， admired， and fathomed it， and passed away， and still its water is green and pellucid as ever.  Not an intermitting spring！  Perhaps on that spring morning when Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden Walden Pond was already in existence， and even then breaking up in a gentle spring rain accompanied with mist and a southerly wind， and covered with myriads of ducks and geese， which had not heard of the fall， when still such pure lakes sufficed them.  Even then it had commenced to rise and fall， and had clarified its waters and colored them of the hue they now wear， and obtained a patent of Heaven to be the only Walden Pond in the world and distiller of celestial dews.  Who knows in how many unremembered nations' literatures this has been the Castalian Fountain？ or what nymphs presided over it in the Golden Age？  It is a gem of the first water which Concord wears in her coronet.

　　水是這樣的透明，二十五至三十英尺下面的水底都可以很清楚地看到。赤腳踏水時，你看到在水面下許多英尺的地方有成群的鱸魚和銀魚，大約只一英寸長，連前者的橫行的花紋也能看得清清楚楚，你會覺得這種魚也是不愿意沾染紅塵，才到這里來生存的。

　　有一次，在冬天里，好幾年前了，為了釣梭魚，我在冰上挖了幾個洞，上岸之后，我把一柄斧頭扔在冰上，可是好像有什么惡鬼故意要開玩笑似的，斧頭在冰上滑過了四五桿遠，剛好從一個窟窿中滑了下去，那里的水深二十五英尺，為了好奇，我躺在冰上，從那窟窿里望，我看到了那柄斧頭，它偏在一邊頭向下直立著，那斧柄筆直向上，順著湖水的脈動搖搖擺擺，要不是我后來又把它吊了起來，它可能就會這樣直立下去，直到木柄爛掉為止。就在它的上面，用我帶來的鑿冰的鑿子，我又鑿了一個洞，又用我的刀，割下了我看到的附近最長的一條赤楊樹枝，我做了一個活結的繩圈，放在樹枝的一頭，小心地放下去，用它套住了斧柄凸出的地方，然后用赤楊枝旁邊的繩子一拉，這樣就把那柄斧頭吊了起來。

　　湖岸是由一長溜像鋪路石那樣的光滑的圓圓的白石組成的；除一兩處小小的沙灘之外，它陡立著，縱身一躍便可以跳到一個人深的水中；要不是水波明凈得出奇，你決不可能看到這個湖的底部，除非是它又在對岸升起。有人認為它深得沒有底。它沒有一處是泥濘的，偶爾觀察的過客或許還會說，它里面連水草也沒有一根；至于可以見到的水草，除了最近給上漲了的水淹沒的、并不屬于這個湖的草地以外，便是細心地查看也確實是看不到菖蒲和蘆葦的，甚至沒有水蓮花，無論是黃色的或是白色的，最多只有一些心形葉子和河蓼草，也許還有一兩張眼子菜；然而，游泳者也看不到它們；便是這些水草，也像它們生長在里面的水一樣的明亮而無垢。岸石伸展入水，只一二桿遠，水底已是純粹的細沙，除了最深的部分，那里總不免有一點沉積物，也許是腐朽了的葉子，多少個秋天來，落葉被刮到湖上，另外還有一些光亮的綠色水苔，甚至在深冬時令拔起鐵錨來的時候，它們也會跟著被拔上來的。

　　我們還有另一個這樣的湖，在九畝角那里的白湖，在偏西兩英里半之處；可是以這里為中心的十二英里半徑的圓周之內，雖然還有許多的湖沼是我熟悉的，我卻找不出第三個湖有這樣的純潔得如同井水的特性。大約歷來的民族都飲用過這湖水，艷羨過它并測量過它的深度，而后他們一個個消逝了，湖水卻依然澄清，發出綠色。一個春天也沒有變化過！也許遠在亞當和夏娃被逐出伊甸樂園時，那個春晨之前，瓦爾登湖已經存在了，甚至在那個時候，隨著輕霧和一陣陣的南鳳，飄下了一陣柔和的春雨，湖面不再平靜了，成群的野鴨和天鵝在湖上游著，它們一點都沒有知道逐出樂園這一回事，能有這樣純粹的湖水真夠滿足啦。就是在那時候，它已經又漲，又落，純清了它的水，還染上了現在它所有的色澤，還專有了這一片天空，成了世界上唯一的一個瓦爾登湖，它是天上露珠的蒸餾器。誰知道，在多少篇再沒人記得的民族詩篇中，這個湖曾被譽為喀斯泰里亞之泉？在黃金時代里，有多少山林水澤的精靈曾在這里居住？這是在康科德的冠冕上的第一滴水明珠。

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