It was really a breakneck sort of excursion, which is very
rarely made even by the officers, and certainly never by ladies.
In two places the ravine became so narrow, that the bed of the
stream occupied its whole extent. It was here that the islanders,
during the war with the French, built stone walls five feet in
height to protect them against the enemy, in case they should have
attacked them from this side.
In eight hours' time we had completed the eighteen miles, and
attained an elevation of 1,800 feet. The lake itself was not
visible until we stood upon its shores, as it lies in a slight
hollow; it is about 800 feet across. The surrounding scenery is the
most remarkable. The lake is so closely hemmed in by a ring of
lofty and precipitous green mountains, that there is no room even
for a footing between the water and the rocks, and its bed might be
taken for an extinguished volcano filled with water--a supposition
which gains additional force from the masses of basalt which occupy
the foreground. It is plentifully supplied with fish, one kind of
which is said to be peculiar to the locality; it is supposed that
the lake has a subterranean outlet, which as yet remains
undiscovered.
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