Wearied and panting I flung myself on its bank and gazed upon it.
There lay the lake in the low bottom, surrounded by the heathery hillocks; there it lay quite still, the hot sun reflected upon its surface, which shone like a polished blue shield.

Near the shore it was shallow, at least near that shore upon which I lay.

But farther on, my eye, practised in deciding upon the depths of waters, saw reason to suppose that its depth was very great.

As I gazed upon it my mind indulged in strange musings.

I thought of the afanc, a creature which some have supposed to be the harmless and industrious beaver, others the frightful and destructive crocodile.