Travelers' Original Accounts: 1 80/ -1 840 



It is but poorly secured to some small trees at the top by pieces of 1805 

 old iron hoops, and the bottom rests on a rock. After you have 

 descended a few feet, you perceive that the bank from whence 

 you stepped on the ladder projects, and that you seem to be 

 suspended in the air. From the foot of the ladder, the approach 

 to the foot of the falls is rendered extremely difficult by the 

 immense and irregular masses of rock which have fallen from 

 the side, and a guide is necessary to conduct you. For notwith- 

 standing that the fall for the most part is full in view, yet the 

 path is sometimes through fissures of rock or between detached 

 fragments of the rock, from whence a stranger would find it 

 difficult to extricate himself; . . . The rock which constitutes 

 the bank is disposed in strata, the upper and principal of which 

 are of limestone, others are of slate, no freestone or granite. 

 Many other mineral substances are to be observed in it; and 

 streams of pure sulphur ooze from crevices of the rock in several 

 places, and leave a yellow concretion on the wall from thence 

 to the bottom. 



Having, while yet at a good distance, prepared ourselves to 

 be wet, by leaving all our surplus clothing on a rock, we pro- 

 ceeded towards the foot of the rock. Our first attempt was to 

 ascertain how far it was practicable, as some travellers have 

 affected to get between the falling water and the rock behind it. 

 We accordingly passed along close to the perpendicular side, as 

 far as we thought it prudent, much further than it was convenient, 

 and we believed as far, at least within a very few feet, as it is 

 practicable to go. We might, perhaps, with propriety say that 

 the very edge, the feather edge of the water, poured over our 

 heads, and fell in front of us. But the spray was as profuse as 

 rain in the most copious showers; and a storm of wind, which 

 perpetually rushes from behind the falling column, once deprived 

 us of breath by its violence, and of sight, by dashing the water 

 into our eyes. We could perceive, however, behind the column 

 it was dark, and we were moreover treading upon a shelving mass 

 of crumbled slate, which would scarcely support us, which was 



133 



