Trout Watch Behind Sunken Stones,
And Shoot To And Fro As Insects Droop In Their Flight And Appear About To
Fall.
So clear is the water and so brightly illuminated that the fish are
not easily seen - for vision depends on contrast - but in a minute I find a
way to discover them by their shadows.
The black shadow of a trout is
distinct upon the bottom of the river, and guides the eye to the spot;
then looking higher in the transparent water there is the fish. It was
curious to see these black shadows darting to and fro as if themselves
animated and without bodies, for if the trout darted before being
observed the light concealed him in motion. Some of the trout came up
from under Torre-steps, a singular structure which here connects the
shores of the stream. Every one has seen a row of stepping-stones across
a shallow brook; now pile other stones on each of these, forming
buttresses, and lay flat stones like unhewn planks from buttress to
buttress, and you have the plan of this primitive bridge. It has a
megalithic appearance, as if associated with the age of rude stone
monuments. They say its origin is doubtful; there can be no doubt of the
loveliness of the spot. The Barle comes with his natural rush and
fierceness under the unhewn stone planking, then deepens, and there
overhanging a black pool - for the shadow was so deep as to be black - grew
a large bunch of marsh-marigolds in fullest flower, the broad golden cups
almost resting on the black water.
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