242 Celebes. 



was about a quarter of a mile further on. The river is here 

 about twenty yards wide, and issues from a chasm between 

 two vertical walls of limestone over a rounded mass of basal- 

 tic rock about forty feet high, forming two curves sejDarated 

 by a slight ledge. The water spi-eads beautifully over this 

 surface in a thin sheet of foam, which curls and eddies in a 

 succession of concentric cones till it fails into a fine deep pool 

 below. Close to the very edge of the fall a narrow and very 

 rugged path leads to the river above, and thence continues 

 close under the precipice along the water's edge, or sometimes 

 in the water, for a few hundred yards, after which the rocks 

 recede a little, and leave a wooded bank on one side, along 

 which the path is continued, till in about half a mile a second 

 and smaller fall is reached. Here the river seems to issue 

 from a cavern, the rocks having fallen from above so as to 

 block up the channel and bar further progress. The fall it- 

 self can only be reached by a path which ascends behind a 

 huge slice of rock which has partly fallen away from the 

 mountain, leaving a sj^ace two or three feet wide, but disclos- 

 ing a dark chasm descending into the bowels of the mountain, 

 and which, having visited several such, I had no great curiosi- 

 ty to explore. 



Crossing the stream a little below the upper fall, the path 

 ascends a steep slope for about five hundred feet, and passing 

 through a gap enters a narrow valley, shut in by walls of rock 

 absolutely perpendicular and of great height. Half a mile 

 further this valley turns abruj)tly to the right, and becomes a 

 mere rift in the mountain. This extends another half mile, 

 the walls gradually approaching till they are only two feet 

 apart, and the bottom rising steeply to a pass which leads 

 probably into another valley but which I had no time to ex- 

 plore. Returning to where this rift had begun, the main path 

 turns up to the left in a sort of gulley, and reaches a summit 

 over which a fine natural arch of rock passes at a height of 

 about fifty feet. Thence was a steep descent through thick 

 jungle with glimpses of precipices and distant rocky mount- 

 ains, pi'obably leading into the main river valley again. This 

 was a most tempting region to explore, but there were several 

 reasons why I could go no further. I had no guide, and no 

 permission to enter the Bugis territories, and as the rains 



