Aecount of the Kaatskill Mountains. Ve: 
rocks, or obstructed in its course by some rock precipitated 
from above, rushing around it with great impetuosity, now 
descending a rapid or precipice with a hoarse thunder, or 
stealing gently along with an uninterrupted current. On 
the opposite side of the stream, the rocks rise at an angle of 
70° about five hundred feet in height, when they lift “their 
heads five hundred more, presenting a precipice of salient 
and reentering angles looking like the rude bastions of a 
natural fortification. ‘The road for about a mile runs on the 
south side of the stream, which it then again crosses and 
continues on or near it, until it reaches the top of the moun- 
tam. As you turn your eye towards: the east, you behold 
this ravine five miles in length, bounded by eminences of sev- 
eral thousand feet in altitude, forming a vista of mountains, 
peak after peak projecting into it, through which a part of 
the counties of Greene, Ulster, Dutchess and Columbia ap- 
pear variegated with hill and dale, their cultivated fields and 
dark forests adorning the back ground. 
Western fall of the Kaaterskill. 
At the termination of this ravine, a short distance from 
Parmaters, is a cascade of great beauty, formed by the wa- 
ters of the main branch of the Kaaterskill. ‘This stream is 
formed by the union of two branches, one rising in two 
lakes about one and a half miles east of this cascade, the 
other about half the distance in a ne eal direction. ‘The 
best view of this fall is from below, the foliage above being 
so thick asin a great measure to obscure it. Below the 
fall the banks of the stream, which are nearly three hundred 
feet in height, rise almost perpendicularly from the surface 
of the water. I visited it during the last summer, (1819) 
a few hours after a very heavy rain. In company ‘with ae 
friend E I descended the bank, which, owing to th 
shower, was very difficult. The rocks were either loose or 
Cad with moss, which, wet with the rain, prevented us 
from obtaining a firm foothold. In man y instances we 
were saved from a fall of rae feet, by grasping some 
neighbouring twig, which, if it was not pulled up by the 
ioe semved at least to stop us till we could discover G&rmer 
ground. We stationed ourselves near the foot of the fall, 
where the view amply compensated is for the difficulties 
Wont TE. Nott. 3 
