'The Force of the Waters. 287 



the confounded and discomfited giants. Now the rush- 

 ing element filled up the gorge to the brim. The logs, 

 once under way, rolled, reared, tossed, and tumbled amid 

 the foam, as they were earned along. Many of the small- 

 er trees broke across ; from others, great splinters were 

 sent up, and all were in some degree seamed and scarred. 

 Then, in tumultuous majesty, swept along the mangled 

 wreck : the current being now increased to such a pitch, 

 that the logs, as they were dashed against the rocky 

 shores, resounded like the report of distant artillery, or 

 the rumblings of the thunder. Onward it rolls, the em- 

 blem of wreck and ruin, destruction and chaotic strife. 

 It seemed to me as if I witnessed the rout of a rash 

 army, surprised, overwhelmed, and overthrown : the roar 

 of the cannon, the groans of the dying, and the shouts of 

 the avengers, were thundering through my brain ; and 

 amid the frightful confusion of the scene there came over 

 my spirit a melancholy feeling, which had not entirely 

 vanished at the end of many days. In a few hours al- 

 most all the timber that had lain heaped in the rocky 

 gorge was floating in the great pond of the millers, and 

 as we walked homewards we talked of \h& force of the 

 waters y 





