is Account of the Kaatskill Mountains. 
we had encountered. The stream, which was then fifty feet 
m breadth, descended in the form of a rapid for some dis- 
tance above the precipice, when, reaching it, it presented a 
perpendicular fall of 120 feet; then striking on a rock, 
which makes an angle of 40°, it rushes down this rock, en- 
veloping itin foam. The water fell im such a manner as 
not to strike the precipice, but formed a plane parallel to it. 
A number of shrubs rooted in the crevices of the rocks 
which form the precipice, appeared through the fissures of 
the stream, waving their green foliage with the wind, which 
was very great, owing to ; the suction through these parallel 
planes. 
The rocks on each side of the stream project so as par- 
tially to eclipse the sides of the fall. They have fallen 
from time to time, in such a manner as to form seventeen 
natural steps rising one above another. We stationed our- 
selves on these steps, to enjoy the scenery around us. Be- 
fore us the stream fell in a beautiful sheet, exhibiting its 
transparent waters, when, striking the mclined plane, it 
rushed down it with headlong fury, bearing on its surface a 
foam of silvery whiteness. On the right and left, the banks 
rose over our heads in silent grandeur, as if on the point of 
detaching their projecting masses into the ravme where we 
were standing ; while below us the water was visible for 
about thirty rods, descending in the form of a rapid, when 
_ bending around the point of ‘a projection of the mountain, 
it disappeared from our view. The spray was so thick as 
to make a dense cloud, on which the sun shining with great 
brilliancy, and being nearly vertical, imprinted a perfect 
rainbow. ‘This bow, which was not more than eight feet in 
diameter, formed a circle around us slightly eliptical, near 
the centre of which we stood. As we approached the fall, 
the spray thickened, the splendour of the colours increased, 
and the shrubs, the foo and the water, were tinged aah 
its choicest ee To complete the view, a nat rivulet, 
caused by the late rains, fell about two hundred feet, in the 
form of a cascade, down the precipice, on the southern 
bank of the stream, displaying its crystal waters through the 
green foliage which adorned it. We remained here enjoy- 
ing the prospect for some minutes, when, drenched with 
spray, we reluctantly bade it adieu, with all those emotions 
which the sublimity and beauty of such a scene would 
naturally awaken. 
