with white or yellow lilies--seldom the two species together--these and
other plants that rejoice in the cool liquid depths show their scalloped
or feathery forms with perfect distinctness far below the surface of the
limpid water.

Here, O idle water-wanderer, let your boat glide with the scarcely moving
current, and gaze upon the leafy groves of the sub-aqueous wilderness lit
up by the rays of the sun, and watch the fish moving singly or in shoals
at various depths--the bearded barbel, the spotted trout, the shimmering
bream, and the bronzen tench. Watch, too, the speckled water-snakes gliding
upon the gravel or lurking like the ancient serpent in mimic gardens of
Eden. Mark all the varied life and wondrous beauty of nature there. Above
all, do not hurry, for little is seen by those who hasten on.

At a weir of sticks and stones forming a rather wide dam, overgrown by tall
hemp-agrimony now in flower, we met with our first difficulty. There was no
overflow to help us, for in this time of drought the mill-wheel needed all
the stream to turn it; so the boat had to be lifted over the stakes and
stones. Into the water we had to go, and boots and socks, being now put
aside, were not worn again for five days, except when we went ashore in the
evening, and had to make an effort to look respectable.

The dam being passed, the boat shot down a rapid current; then, as the bed
widened out and the water stilled, we were hidden from the world by reeds,
through which we had to force a way while the sun smote us and frizzled us.
Countless dragonflies flashed their brilliant colours as they whirled and
darted, green frogs plunged at our approach from their diving-boards of
matted rush, or quirked defiance from the banks where they were safe; and
now and again a startled kingfisher showed us the blue gleam of a wing
above the brown maces of the bulrushes and the high-hanging tassels of the