CASCADES. 237 



a chronicle, but, unfortunately, a chronicle that we 

 have not the means of reading ; as we do not know 

 how much more rain there may have fallen then 

 than falls now, or how much more easy the strata may 

 have been to cut before being hardened by exposure to 

 the air. Thus, though a careful examination of those 

 places, not with a view to ascertain how the strata of 

 the earth were originally made, (of which, as we have 

 nothing very analogous to it going on, we can have 

 very imperfect notions,) but, as to what part of its 

 present form may depend upon causes that we can 

 understand, can give information, it will not give us dates. 

 The periods must have been very remote, however ; 

 for there are the ruins of Roman encampments, on 

 the very top of the debris that have been carried 

 down by those operations ; while in other places, 

 where there has been nothing but the common seasonal 

 debris from the high grounds, barrows, bows, and 

 weapons have been found, under ten or twelve feet of 

 gravel. 



Thus, wherever there is a cascade, we may be sure 

 that it is an ancient thing, and that the plants and the 

 animals have had time to accommodate themselves to 

 it ; and consequently, that where attempts have not 

 been made to alter it by art, it is a faithful index to 

 nature, at the same time that it is a collector. There 

 are many places where, amid the dark desolation of a 

 surface showing nothing but heath, and where there is 

 no sign of life, but the melancholy chirp of one little 

 bird, a cascade with its dell, its dripping rocks, and 

 its caverned banks, will contain a rich cabinet of bo- 



