BUTTERMILK GORGE. 83 



way back from the brink of this great fall, the water is 

 whipped into spray down the ragged slope of a second 

 cascade ninety feet high, somewhat steeper, but pre- 

 senting no great obstacle to the scaler. A short dis- 

 tance back from the top of this cascade, rises the lofty 

 wall of the dam which collects the water for supplying 

 the village water works, two miles away. Here the 

 gulf widens out and rugged cliffs tower up on each side 

 and curve around in a monstrous bowl. Out from a 

 dismal cleft right in front, the water comes trickling 

 down, a lace-like fringe, draping the front of a semi-cir- 

 cular, bulging rock which seems to choke the mouth of 

 the cavernous defile. By some stretch of the imagina- 

 tions this has been thought to resemble a pulpit, and 

 accordingly received the name of "Pulpit Rock." 

 This rock, the central object of interest in the gorge, 

 may be reached by clambering up the hillside from the 

 plateau, on the south margin, just at the point of the 

 dam, and some rods further on descending a break-neck 

 path into the narrow, glen, and carefully picking 

 the way toward the front along a dangerous ledge 

 of shale. The narrow, flume-like passage is one of the 

 most weirdly fantastic spots of the region. The water 

 has worn innumerable pot-holes and carved tracery on 

 the dark walls ; the rocky overhanging crags seem al- 

 most to meet overhead ; the green roof-curtain of inter- 

 lacing branches stretched across seventy feet above 

 forbids the entrance of the sunbeams, and makes a re- 

 freshing coolness. Just above a sharp turn in this 

 natural tunnel, and nearly at its head, is a perpendic- 



