140 In Touch with Nature. 



was the question asked by more than one. Be- 

 sides, we were at a cottage-door, and a bubbling 

 spring, with mossy pebbles set about, and a clam- 

 shell cup, tempted too strongly to have faith in 

 stronger things. But we started at last, and never 

 hath a hedge shut in so marvellous a view. As 

 the field was crossed, there was nothing suggestive 

 of other than the lowest lowlands, but we were, in 

 fact, on a long reach of table-land that ended with 

 startling suddenness behind a hedge. A mere 

 fragment of a wood-path was followed, when, 

 without an intimation of what was near, the valley 

 of the Delaware was spread out before us. We 

 stood upon an overhanging cliff, nearly four hun- 

 dred feet above the water. 



These are the Nockamixon Rocks, we were 

 told, and very different the appearance from the 

 summit as compared with that at the base; not 

 that the latter does not merit all that can be said, 

 but here we are above comparative description. 

 These rocks are really a cliff, nearly one mile in 

 length, of the new red sandstone, but do not be 

 misled by this term " new." They are ancient in 

 every sense, and their sheer front facing the east 



