You may see from a boat， in calm weather， near the sandy eastern shore， where the water is eight or ten feet deep， and also in some other parts of the pond， some circular heaps half a dozen feet in diameter by a foot in height， consisting of small stones less than a hen's egg in size， where all around is bare sand.  At first you wonder if the Indians could have formed them on the ice for any purpose， and so， when the ice melted， they sank to the bottom； but they are too regular and some of them plainly too fresh for that.  They are similar to those found in rivers； but as there are no suckers nor lampreys here， I know not by what fish they could be made.  Perhaps they are the nests of the chivin.  These lend a pleasing mystery to the bottom.

　　The shore is irregular enough not to be monotonous.  I have in my mind's eye the western， indented with deep bays， the bolder northern， and the beautifully scalloped southern shore， where successive capes overlap each other and suggest unexplored coves between.  The forest has never so good a setting， nor is so distinctly beautiful， as when seen from the middle of a small lake amid hills which rise from the water's edge； for the water in which it is reflected not only makes the best foreground in such a case，but， with its winding shore， the most natural and agreeable boundary to it.  There is no rawness nor imperfection in its edge there， as where the axe has cleared a part， or a cultivated field abuts on it. The trees have ample room to expand on the water side， and each sends forth its most vigorous branch in that direction.  There Nature has woven a natural selvage， and the eye rises by just gradations from the low shrubs of the shore to the highest trees. There are few traces of man's hand to be seen.  The water laves the shore as it did a thousand years ago.

　　A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye； looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.  The fluviatile trees next the shore are the slender eyelashes which fringe it， and the wooded hills and cliffs around are its overhanging brows.

　　Standing on the smooth sandy beach at the east end of the pond，in a calm September afternoon， when a slight haze makes the opposite shore-line indistinct， I have seen whence came the expression， "the glassy surface of a lake."  When you invert your head， it looks like a thread of finest gossamer stretched across the valley， and gleaming against the distant pine woods， separating one stratum of the atmosphere from another.  You would think that you could walk dry under it to the opposite hills， and that the swallows which skim over might perch on it.  Indeed， they sometimes dive below this line， as it were by mistake， and are undeceived.  As you look over the pond westward you are obliged to employ both your hands to defend your eyes against the reflected as well as the true sun， for they are equally bright； and if， between the two， you survey its surface critically， it is literally as smooth as glass， except where the skater insects， at equal intervals scattered over its whole extent， by their motions in the sun produce the finest imaginable sparkle on it， or， perchance， a duck plumes itself， or， as I have said， a swallow skims so low as to touch it.  It may be that in the distance a fish describes an arc of three or four feet in the air，and there is one bright flash where it emerges， and another where it strikes the water； sometimes the whole silvery arc is revealed； or here and there， perhaps， is a thistle-down floating on its surface，which the fishes dart at and so dimple it again.  It is like molten glass cooled but not congealed， and the few motes in it are pure and beautiful like the imperfections in glass.  You may often detect a yet smoother and darker water， separated from the rest as if by an invisible cobweb， boom of the water nymphs， resting on it.  From a hilltop you can see a fish leap in almost any part； for not a pickerel or shiner picks an insect from this smooth surface but it manifestly disturbs the equilibrium of the whole lake.  It is wonderful with what elaborateness this simple fact is advertised ――this piscine murder will out ―― and from my distant perch I distinguish the circling undulations when they are half a dozen rods in diameter.  You can even detect a water-bug （Gyrinus） ceaselessly progressing over the smooth surface a quarter of a mile off； for they furrow the water slightly， making a conspicuous ripple bounded by two diverging lines， but the skaters glide over it without rippling it perceptibly.  When the surface is considerably agitated there are no skaters nor water-bugs on it， but apparently， in calm days， they leave their havens and adventurously glide forth from the shore by short impulses till they completely cover it.  It is a soothing employment， on one of those fine days in the fall when all the warmth of the sun is fully appreciated， to sit on a stump on such a height as this， overlooking the pond， and study the dimpling circles which are incessantly inscribed on its otherwise invisible surface amid the reflected skies and trees.  Over this great expanse there is no disturbance but it is thus at once gently smoothed away and assuaged， as， when a vase of water is jarred， the trembling circles seek the shore and all is smooth again.  Not a fish can leap or an insect fall on the pond but it is thus reported in circling dimples， in lines of beauty， as it were the constant welling up of its fountain， the gentle pulsing of its life， the heaving of its breast.  The thrills of joy and thrills of pain are undistinguishable.  How peaceful the phenomena of the lake！  Again the works of man shine as in the spring.  Ay， every leaf and twig and stone and cobweb sparkles now at mid-afternoon as when covered with dew in a spring morning.  Every motion of an oar or an insect produces a flash of light； and if an oar falls， how sweet the echo！

　　在寧靜的氣候中，坐在船上，你可以看到，東邊的沙灘附近，水深八英尺或十英尺的地方，在湖的另一些地方，也可以看到的，有圓形的一堆堆東西，約一英尺高，直徑約六英尺，堆的是比雞蛋略小的一些圓石，而在這一堆堆圓石周圍，全是黃沙。起初，你會覺得驚奇，是否那些印第安人故意在冰上堆積這些圓石，等到冰溶化了，它們就沉到了湖底；但是，就算這樣吧，那形式還是太規(guī)則化了，而且有些圓石，顯然又太新鮮。

　　它們和河流中可以看見的很相似。但這里沒有胭脂魚或八目鰻，我不知道它是哪一些魚建筑起來的。也許它是銀魚的巢。這樣，水底更有了一種愉快的神秘感了。

　　湖岸極不規(guī)則，所以一點(diǎn)不單調(diào)。我閉目也能看見，西岸有深深的鋸齒形的灣，北岸較開朗，而那美麗的，扇貝形的南岸，一個個岬角相互地交疊著，使人想起岬角之間一定還有人跡未到的小海灣。在群山之中，小湖中央，望著水邊直立而起的那些山上的森林，這些森林不能再有更好的背景，也不能更美麗了，因為森林已經(jīng)反映在湖水中，這不僅是形成了最美的前景，而且那彎彎曲曲的湖岸，恰又給它做了最自然又最愉悅的邊界線。不像斧頭砍伐出一個林中空地，或者露出了一片開墾了的田地的那種地方，這兒沒有不美的或者不完整的感覺。樹木都有充分的余地在水邊擴(kuò)展，每一棵樹都向了這個方向伸出最強(qiáng)有力的椏枝。大自然編織了一幅很自然的織錦，眼睛可以從沿岸最低的矮樹漸漸地望上去，望到最高的樹。這里看不到多少人類的雙手留下的痕跡。水洗湖岸，正如一千年前。

　　一個湖是風(fēng)景中最美、最有表情的姿容。它是大地的眼睛；望著它的人可以測出他自己的天性的深淺。湖所產(chǎn)生的湖邊的樹木是睫毛一樣的鑲邊，而四周森林蓊郁的群山和山崖是它的濃密突出的眉毛。

　　站在湖東端的平坦的沙灘上，在一個平靜的九月下午，薄霧使對岸的岸線看不甚清楚，那時我了解了所謂“玻璃似的湖面”這句話是什么意思了。當(dāng)你倒轉(zhuǎn)了頭看湖，它像一條最精細(xì)的薄紗張掛在山谷之上，襯著遠(yuǎn)處的松林而發(fā)光，把大氣的一層和另外的一層隔開了。你會覺得你可以從它下面走過去，走到對面的山上，而身體還是干的，你覺得掠過水面的燕子很可以停在水面上。是的，有時它們氽水到水平線之下，好像這是偶然的錯誤，繼而恍然大悟。當(dāng)你向西，望到湖對面去的時候，你不能不用兩手來保護(hù)你的眼睛，一方面擋開本來的太陽光，同時又擋開映在水中的太陽光；如果，這時你能夠在這兩種太陽光之間，批判地考察湖面，它正應(yīng)了那句話，所謂“波平如鏡”了，其時只有一些掠水蟲，隔開了同等距離，分散在全部的湖面，而由于它們在陽光里發(fā)出了最精美的想象得到的閃光來，或許，還會有一只鴨子在整理它自己的羽毛，或許，正如我已經(jīng)說過的，一只燕子飛掠在水面上，低得碰到了水。還有可能，在遠(yuǎn)處，有一條魚在空中畫出了一個大約三四英尺的圓弧來，它躍起時一道閃光，降落入水，又一道閃光，有時，全部的圓弧展露了，銀色的圓弧；但這里或那里，有時會漂著一枝薊草，魚向它一躍，水上便又激起水渦。這像是玻璃的溶液，已經(jīng)冷卻，但是還沒有凝結(jié)，而其中連少數(shù)塵垢也還是純潔而美麗的，像玻璃中的細(xì)眼。你還常常可以看到一片更平滑、更黝黑的水，好像有一張看不見的蜘蛛網(wǎng)把它同其余的隔開似的，成了水妖的柵欄，躺在湖面。從山頂下瞰，你可以看到，幾乎到處都有躍起的魚；在這樣凝滑的平面上，沒有一條梭魚或銀魚在捕捉一個蟲子時，不會破壞全湖的均勢的。真是神奇，這簡簡單單的一件事，卻可以這么精巧地顯現(xiàn)，――這水族界的謀殺案會暴露出來――我站在遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)的高處，看到了那水的擴(kuò)大的圓渦，它們的直徑有五六桿長。甚至你還可以看到水蝎（學(xué)名Gyrinus）不停地在平滑的水面滑了四分之一英里；它們微微地犁出了水上的皺紋來，分出兩條界線，其間有著很明顯的漪瀾；而掠水蟲在水面上滑來滑去卻不留下顯明的可見痕跡。在湖水激蕩的時候，便看不到掠水蟲和水蝎了，顯然只在風(fēng)平浪靜的時候，它們才從它們的港埠出發(fā)，探險似地從湖岸的一面，用短距離的滑行，滑上前去，滑上前去，直到它們滑過全湖。這是何等愉快的事啊。秋天里，在這樣一個晴朗的天氣中，充分地享受了太陽的溫暖，在這樣的高處坐在一個樹樁上，湖的全景盡收眼底，細(xì)看那圓圓的水渦，那些圓渦一刻不停地刻印在天空和樹木的倒影中間的水面上，要不是有這些水渦，水面是看不到的。在這樣廣大的一片水面上，并沒有一點(diǎn)兒擾動，就有一點(diǎn)兒，也立刻柔和地復(fù)歸于平靜而消失了，好像在水邊裝一瓶子水，那些顫栗的水波流回到岸邊之后，立刻又平滑了。一條魚跳躍起來，一個蟲子掉落到湖上，都這樣用圓渦，用美麗的線條來表達(dá)，仿佛那是泉源中的經(jīng)常的噴涌，它的生命的輕柔的搏動，它的胸膛的呼吸起伏。

　　那是歡樂的震抖，還是痛苦的顫栗，都無從分辨。湖的現(xiàn)象是何等的和平啊！人類的工作又像在春天里一樣的發(fā)光了。是啊，每一樹葉、椏枝、石子和蜘蛛網(wǎng)在下午茶時又在發(fā)光，跟它們在春天的早晨承露以后一樣。每一支劃槳的或每一只蟲子的動作都能發(fā)出一道閃光來，而一聲槳響，又能引出何等的甜蜜的回音來啊！

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