AN AFRICAN POOL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3183, 10 September 1881, Page 3

AN AFRICAN POOL.

The pond that was closest to our encampment was thirty feet long, and twelve feet wide, its depth about six feet. It was fed by a tiny thread of water scarcely three inches wi"de ; its ontlet in a reedy thicket being somewhat wider. The water was as clear as crystal, so that every object even to the bottom was plainly discernable. Half the pond, or nearly so, was occupied by a network of delicate algso—here of a dark color, there a dark green —and everywhere assuming the most fantastic forms. In some places it seemed to be in strata, one above another, like semi-transparent clouds in the azure depths ; with the part near the outflow, it formed a dark labyrinth of grottoes ; whilst on the right it might seem to represent a ruined castle, so well defined was the foundation from which rose the square watch tower with its circular turret, the tender weeds turning themselves into a gothic doorway, through which small fish kept darting to and fro ; on the top of the tower were some projecting growths that kept up the similitude of broken battlements. Making a dark green background were the lower stems of the weeds that rustled above the water, and in the open space between the water weeds, and the margin of the pond, rose the three spiral stalks of a large flowering nymphcoa, two of them throwing out their flat glossy leaves, and the third, a beautiful pale blue lily, that lay like a gleaming star upon the surface of a crystal mirror. Besides the alg£e I have described, there were others at the bottom of the pool, with their lobulated and dentated leaves, rivalling ferns in the gracefulness of their form. At first this minature plant world appeared to lie in motionless repose, and it was not until the eye grew quite accustomed to the scene that it detected tho gentle current that the streamlet made. Once perceived, the effect was very charming ; the reed stems were seen to vibrate and quiver with ever-varying degrees of motion ; the fictitious towers of algso were observed to tremble without any disturbance to their general outline; the very grottoes had the appearance of being impelled forward by some secret f oroe to seek admission to some other pool. From the bottom of the water, plants, with bright yellow blossoms and serrated cryptograms, stretched up their heads as if they aspired to share the honours of the water lily, the acknowledged queen of all, and longed, like her, to rock upon the bosom of the lake, to be greeted by the sunbeams, to be refreshed by the morning dew, and sheltered by the shades of night. Equally fascinating was the exhibition of animal life. In the more open spaces, where the range of vision was widest, lay some dark-striped fish not unlike perch, perfectly motionless, except for tho slight vibration of the hinder fins j from the dim recesses of the alga, bearded skeat-flsh would emerge, generally in pairs, sometimes side by side, sometimea one behind the other, would roll themselves in sport from side to side; and far away, right across the reeds by the opposide bank, stretched itself, as though lifeless, a yellow-mottled object, that might at first have been mistaken for a snake, but which on further scrutiny turned out to be a water lizzard, biding its time to secure its prey. Nor were the lower orders of creation less fully repesented. Water beetles and water spider abound ; the beetles were species of dysticus and hgdrophilus ; the spiders were all activity, some towing themselves up, some with glistening air bubbles letting themselves descend, and hastening to corv ceal themselves amidst the intricacies aud entanglement of the algce. The larvace of the beetles as well as of the dragon flies were clambering over the filaments of the plants and stems of the lilies, like rope dancers, whilst the pupre of the shore flies were slowly emerging from their mummy-like case.—" Seven Years in South Africa."

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