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of the lakes never remain the same for half a century
together. The streams bring down soft soil incessantly; and
this more effectually alters the currents than the slides of
stones precipitated from the heights by an occasional storm,
By this deposit of soil new promontories are formed, and the
margin contracts till many a reach of waters is converted
into land, inviting tillage. The greenest levels of the
smaller valleys may be seen to have been once lakes: and no
one who looks down upon Grasmere, for instance, from the
hill field behind the Hollins, can have any doubt as to what
was once the extent of the waters. And, while Nature is thus
closing up in one direction, she is opening in another. In
some low-lying spot a tree falls, which acts as a dam when
the next rains come. The detained waters sink, and
penetrate, and loosen the roots of other trees; and the
moisture which they formerly absorbed goes to swell the
accumulation till the place becomes a swamp. The drowned
vegetation decays and sinks, leaving more room, till the
place becomes a pool, on whose bristling margin the snipe
arrives to rock on the bulrush, and the heron wades in the
waterlilies to feed on the fish which come there, nobody
knows how. As the waters spread, they encounter natural
dams, behind which they grow clear and deepen, till we have
a tarn among the hills, which attracts the browsing flock,
and tempts the shepherd to build his hut near the brink.
Then the wild swans see the glittering expanse in their
flight, and drop down into it; and the waterfowl make their
nests among the reeds. This brings the sportsman; and a
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