Natural Bridge in. Virginia. 415 



Natural Tunnel. Natural Bridge. 



From the stream to the arch, 80 feet. 240 feet. 



From the arch to the surface, solid, 160 " 40 " 



Extent of the tunnel, 450 " 60 " 



Width at bottom, 50 to 100 " 45 " 



We hope to do an agreeable thing in presenting our readers 

 with a plate,* of the natural bridge, from a spirited original 

 drawing, taken on the spot ; and we conclude our paper with 

 Mr. Jefferson's account of it, from his notes. 



" The JYatural Bridge, the most sublime of nature's works, though 

 not comprehended under the present head, must not be preter- 

 mitted. It is on the ascent of a hill, which seems to have been 

 cloven through its length by some great convulsion. The fissure, 

 just at the bridge, is, by some admeasurements, 270 feet deep, 

 by others only 205. It is about 45 feet wide at the bottom, and 

 90 feet at the top ; this of course determines the length of the 

 bridge, and its height from the water. Its breadth in the mid- 

 dle, is about 60 feet, but more at the ends, and the thickness of 

 the mass, at the summit of the arch, about 40 feet. A part of 

 this thickness is constituted by a coat of earth, which gives 

 growth to many large trees. The residue, with the hill on both 

 sides, is one solid rock of lime-stone. — The arch approaches the 

 semi-elliptical form ; but the larger axis of the ellipsis, which 

 would be the cord of the arch, is many times longer than the 

 transverse. Though the sides of this bridge are provided in some 

 parts with a parapet of fixed rocks, yet few men have resolution 

 to walk to them, and look over into the abyss. You involuntarily 

 fall on your hands and feet, creep to the parapet, and peep over 

 it. Looking down from this height about a minute, gave me a 

 violent head-ache. If the view from the top be painful and in- 

 tolerable, that from below is delightful in an unequal extreme. 

 It is impossible for the emotions arising from the sublime, to be 

 felt beyond what they are here : so beautiful an arch, so elevated, 

 so light, and springing as it were up to heaven ! the rapture of the 

 spectator is really indescribable ! The fissure continuing narrow, 

 deep, and straight, for a considerable distance above and below 

 the bridge, opens a short but very pleasing view of the North 

 mountain on one side, and Blue ridge on the other, at the dis- 



• Vide Plate XII. 



