LICK BROOK. 87 



steep path leads up the hillside to the brink of the 

 gorge directly above the second fall, in all respects simi- 

 lar to the first, save in size. From this eminence the 

 descent to the channel of the brook is gentle. The view 

 looking up the ravine contains nothing of the majestic ; 

 it is a charming vista of loveliness. The mossy velvet of 

 the banks is covered with masses of feathery fern and 

 delicate wild flowers. The sunlight sifting down through 

 the intertwining leaves far above, dispels all gloominess. 

 The coolness throughout the glen, even on the hottest 

 days, is delicious. Walk up the delightful hollow over 

 the shale ledges of the miniature cascades, and you 

 come suddenly upon a wonderful crevice Assuring the 

 south wall. The rocks nearly meet fifty feet overhead. 

 Its stony bottom slopes inward and upward at a sharp 

 angle for seventy feet. Eagle Cavern is the name given 

 to it. Just beyond this tremendous cleft the walls sud- 

 denly rise to a height of a hundred and sixty feet, and 

 bend away in the form of a mighty amphitheatre. The 

 sides slope backward for eighty feet, then rise perpen- 

 dicularly for. eighty feet more. The incline is carpeted 

 with delicate forest plants, and magnificent forest trees 

 rise in tiers wherever they can gain a precarious hold. 

 The glen again narrows and bends around at a right 

 angle ; the dark gray shaded rocks over whose shelves the 

 water descends in a series of little falls give the name of 

 Dark Cascade. Savage cliffs overhang the well-like 

 amphitheatre into which the passage of the Dark Cas- 

 cade opens. Around another sharp corner, over a gently 

 sloping floor, as regularly seamed and jointed as a pave- 

 ment, lies the way to the final and grandest scene of all. 



