The English Period 



a small bush where you find some stumps and roots which assist 1787 

 you for the first three or four yards of a very steep bank, when jnys 

 you come to a place quite perpendicular for perhaps about twelve 

 feet. Here they have put what they call Indian-ladders, which 

 is no more than a tree about a foot in diameter with notches cut 

 in its sides that is placed rather slantwise to answer the purpose 

 of going down. Not far after you pass the first of these ladders, 

 you come to a second, not quite so long, after which you descend 

 through a very steep gully full of rocks and stumps, most part 

 of the way being assisted by the branches of the neighbouring 

 trees. It surprised me to find that the descent was so easy to 

 what I had always been led to think it, which I conceive pro- 

 ceeds from many who have never tried it but speak from hearsay ; 

 indeed I am fully persuaded that many who say they have been 

 at the bottom never have been there, as they are frequently 

 betrayed by the erroneous accounts they give of the lower region, 

 which in fact is, I believe, visited by but few. 



Once arrived at the bottom, you receive ample reward for the 

 pains the descent has occasioned you. If this noble scene inspire 

 you with awe when above, it may be easily conceived hew much 

 it must be augmented when you get to the bottom, absolutely 

 into the very basin whence all this sheet of water falls. You 

 are no sooner clear of the v/ood than you have a full and com- 

 plete view of all the magnificent scene, in which all the various 

 shades which the water receives in its fall, either from the pro- 

 jecting rocks or from the intersection of the rays of the sun, 

 appear to the greatest of all possible advantage; besides which 

 you here see nothing of the rapid above, your prospect being 

 confined to the perpendicular fall and the basin which receives 

 it, but then that fall appears to much greater advantage and 

 much higher than it does from any of the views above. 



Having sat down a few minutes to rest after our descent and 

 drank a glass or two of wine, we proceeded to get as near the 

 Fall as we conveniently could. This is by far the most difficult 

 and, I may add, dangerous part of the day's journey. The dis- 



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