.

Como, (which may perhaps be styled the King of Lakes, as Lugano is
certainly the Queen) is disturbed by a periodical wind blowing _from_
the head in the morning, and _towards_ it in the afternoon. The
magnificent Lake of the four Cantons, especially its noblest division,
called the Lake of Uri, is not only much agitated by winds, but in the
night time is disturbed from the bottom, as I was told, and indeed as I
witnessed, without any apparent commotion in the air; and when at rest,
the water is not pure to the eye, but of a heavy green hue--as is that
of all the other lakes, apparently according to the degree in which they
are fed by melted snows. If the Lake of Geneva furnish an exception,
this is probably owing to its vast extent, which allows the water to
deposit its impurities. The water of the English lakes, on the contrary,
being of a crystalline clearness, the reflections of the surrounding
hills are frequently so lively, that it is scarcely possible to
distinguish the point where the real object terminates, and its
unsubstantial duplicate begins. The lower part of the Lake of Geneva,
from its narrowness, must be much less subject to agitation than the
higher divisions, and, as the water is clearer than that of the other
Swiss Lakes, it will frequently exhibit this appearance, though it is
scarcely possible in an equal degree. During two comprehensive tours
among the Alps, I did not observe, except on one of the smaller lakes
between Lugano and Ponte Tresa, a single instance of those beautiful
repetitions of surrounding objects on the bosom of the water, which are
so frequently seen here: not to speak of the fine dazzling trembling
net-work, breezy motions, and streaks and circles of intermingled smooth
and rippled water, which make the surface of our lakes a field of
endless variety. But among the Alps, where every thing tends to the
grand and the sublime, in surfaces as well as in forms, if the lakes do
not court the placid reflections of land objects those of first-rate
magnitude make compensation, in some degree, by exhibiting those
ever-changing fields of green, blue, and purple shadows or lights, (one
scarcely knows which to name them) that call to mind a sea-prospect
contemplated from a lofty cliff.

The subject of torrents and waterfalls has already been touched upon;
but it may be added that in Switzerland, the perpetual accompaniment of
snow upon the higher regions takes much from the effect of fo