A CHASM. 143 



feet in width, whilst the height of the cliffs could 

 not have been less than three liundred feet. It 

 much reminded me of that part of the Hinter 

 Jlhein, designated " Das verlorenes Loch," or the 

 Ravine of the Tamima, although it exceeded either 

 in its stern wild character. The sides of the ravine 

 were generally too steep and bare to sustain vege- 

 tation, yet in many places they were furrowed by 

 gullies and channels worn by mountain-torrents 

 and snow-streams, which were almost invariably 

 clothed with dark pine forest ; and sometimes an 

 elevated plateau or ledge, formed by a projecting 

 strata, covered with living verdure, would present 

 the appearance of hanging woods, and somewhat 

 soften the stern severity of the scene. As we were 

 picking our way along a toilsome path, encumbered 

 with debris of all kinds that had fallen from above, 

 the villager who acted as our guide pointed out to 

 us one of those apparently inaccessible spots jutting 

 out from the overhanging face of the rock, some 

 hundreds of feet above the bed of the river, that 

 had the appearance of having at one time been 

 tenanted by man, as besides pines and a few large 



