chap, xvi.] FALLS OF THE MAROS RIVER. 367 



one of my men with me, we started at six in the morning, 

 and after a ride of two hours over the flat rice-fields 

 skirting the mountains which rose in grand precipices on 

 our left, we reached the river about half- way between 

 Maros and the falls, and thence had a good bridle-road to 

 our destination, which we reached in another hour. The 

 hills had closed in round us as we advanced; and when 

 we reached a ruinous shed which had been erected for the 

 accommodation of visitors, we found ourselves in a flat- 

 bottomed valley about a quarter of a mile wide, bounded 

 by precipitous and often overhanging limestone rocks. So 

 far the ground had been cultivated, but it now became 

 covered with bushes and large scattered trees. 



As soon as my scanty baggage had arrived and was 

 duly deposited in the shed, I started off alone for the fall, 

 which was about a quarter of a mile further on. The 

 river is here about twenty yards wide, and issues from a 

 chasm between two vertical walls of limestone, over a 

 rounded mass of basaltic rock about forty feet high, form- 

 ing two curves separated by a slight ledge. The water 

 spreads beautifully over this surface in a thin sheet of 

 foam, which curls and eddies in a succession of concen- 

 tric cones till it falls into a fine deep pool below. Close 

 to the very edge of the fall a narrow and very rugged 

 path leads to the river above, and thence continues close 

 under the precipice along the water's edge, or sometimes 



