METEORIC RIVERS OR WATERFALLS. 381 



remote. The earth, which had been cut out from these 

 basins, had been carried down to the base of the hill by 

 the water, over the top of the grass, without tearing up the 

 grass itself. The hill was pretty steep to be cultivated, but 

 it was, perhaps, not quite one hundred feet high. These ba- 

 sins were about half a mile from the base of Lehigh Ridge, 

 on the south east. 



On coming down south east, about three quarters of a 

 mile further, we found, on the south west bank of the Ju- 

 niata, three basins exactly in a row, and nearly of the same 

 size, about three feet deep, twenty-one feet in diameter, and 

 twenty-seven yards apart. These basins were almost ex- 

 actly round, and their bottoms were washed out clean in 

 very hard clay. It was only about thirty feet to the bot- 

 tom of the bank from these basins, and there was but little 

 ground washed out below. There was, however, drift 

 lodged on the upper side of a tree in one of the paths, three 

 feet high. 



About a quarter of a mile from this, down the river, on the 

 other side, there were two small basins so near together that 

 their rims touched each other, and their paths united below. 

 They are about three feet deep, and nine feet in diameter. 

 There is a large stump of a tree between them, which is 

 not washed out; and if this had not been there, it is possi- 

 ble these two spouts would have appeared but one, by the 

 whole middle space being washed out. Was this one de- 

 scending column, which wavered during its fall ? 



About a mile up the river, on this same north east side, 

 we found, on the side of a very steep cliff, whose base was 

 washed by the river, what may have been merely a slide, 

 and it certainly would have been so esteemed, if the basins 

 had not been discovered. Here there was no basin ; the 

 whole of the soil down to the solid rock was washed off 

 clean, and the large trees which grew on it were washed 

 out, and were standing on their lower ends, or roots, lean- 



