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ash, the hazel, the slender osier, and the 

 graceful birch, hung with honey-suckles and 

 wild-roses, dip their pensile branches in the 

 stream, and break its surface into beauteous 

 ripples. Huge fragments of stone, toppled 

 from the rocks above, and partly covered with 

 moss and plants that haunt and love the 

 water, divide the stream into many currents; 

 round these it bubbles in limpid rills, that 

 circle into innumerable eddies, which, by their 

 activity, give life and motion to a numerous 

 variety of aquatic plants that grow in the bed 

 of the river ; these wave their slender stems 

 under the surface of the water, which, flowing 

 over them, like the transparent varnish of a 

 picture, brings forth the most vivid colouring. 

 Occasionally, large stones are thrown across 

 the stream, and interrupt its progress; over 

 and among these it rushes rapidly into the 

 pool below, forming, in its frequent falls, a 

 series of fairy cascades, about which it foams 

 and sparkles with a beauty and brilliancy pecu- 

 liar to this lively and romantic river.' The 

 waters of this river have a clear blue tint, 

 deepening through various shades to a dark 

 purple. The limestone over which they flow, 

 renders them fertile, and when they overflow 

 their banks in the spring, they enrich the 



