A YO UNG NA TURALIST. 1 1 5 



Sumichrast and I'Encuerado set to work to bathe their stings in 

 the cool water; while I and Lucien sat down together on a 

 rock, washed on one side by the stream, and leisurely contem- 

 plated the beautiful scene before us. 



In front of us was situated an immense mountain, cleft open, 

 as if by the hand of some giant, the sides of which were clad 

 with a carpet of verdure of a thousand different shades. At the 

 bottom, as if for the purpose of stopping up the immense fissure, 

 there was an enormous accumulation of gray and dark-tinted 

 rocks, between which appeared, every here and there, the foliage 

 of some tree, enamelled with flowers. From the midst of the 

 mountain, as if from some invisible cavern, sprung out a large 

 sheet of transparent water, which, although calm and almost 

 motionless in appearance, descended in one fall to a rock which 

 projected in the cataract, like the prow of a ship. As if rendered 

 furious by the shock, and seeming to revel in the uproar, the 

 water, converted into foam, bounded over the obstacle, and fell 

 in two columns, separated by the black point of crag; then, 

 springing with impetuous speed, from step to step, down a 

 gigantic staircase, it entered a receptacle hollowed out like a 

 shell, which received the foaming water, from whence it flowed 

 gently into a basin edged with verdure. The torrent, quieted 

 for a time, resumed its course, and striking against impediments, 

 rolled on, from fall to fall and from valley to valley, until it reached 

 the plains, more than three thousand feet beneath. 



This cascade recalled to my memory one I had seen about a 

 year before, when exploring the environs of Tuxtla, in the Terre 

 Chaude, viz., the Fall of Ingenio— one which would be reckoned 

 among the most celebrated in the world, if access to it was not 

 rendered almost impossible by the wilderness. 



The sufferings of our two companions were so much alleviated 

 by the application of water that they soon came and sat beside 

 us. I cannot describe the proud enjoyment we all felt in this 

 wild spot. We were face to face with this unknown cascade, 

 which we were, perhaps, the first Europeans to contemplate. 

 Behind us the mountain sides seemed to unite and hem in the 

 bed of the torrent. The sun bathed with its rays that portion 



