Travelers* Original Accounts: 1 80 1 -1 840 

 from the circumstance of its projecting beyond the cliffs that sup- 1818 



.... 1 1 r r 11 -r • 1 • • • • • Howison 



port it like the lear or a table. 1 o gain this position, it is neces- 

 sary to descend a steep bank, and to follow a path that winds 

 among shrubbery and trees, which entirely conceal from the eye 

 the scene that awaits him who traverses it. When near the 

 termination of this road, a few steps carried me beyond all these 

 obstructions, and a magnificent amphitheatre of cataracts burst 

 upon my view with appalling suddenness and majesty. How- 

 ever, in a moment the scene was concealed from my eyes by a 

 dense cloud of spray, which involved me so completely, that I 

 did not dare to extricate myself. A mingled rushing and thunder- 

 ing filled my ears. I could see nothing except when the wind 

 made a chasm in the spray, and then tremendous cataracts seemed 

 to encompass me on every side, while below, a raging and foamy 

 gulf of undiscoverable extent lashed the rocks with its hissing 

 waves, and swallowed, under a horrible obscurity, the smoking 

 floods that were precipitated into its bosom. 



At first the sky was obscured by clouds, but after a few minutes 

 the sun burst forth, and the breeze subsiding at the same time, 

 permitted the spray to ascend perpendicularly. A host of pyra- 

 midal clouds rose majestically, one after another, from the abyss 

 at the bottom of the Fall ; and each, when it had ascended a little 

 above the edge of the cataract, displayed a beautiful rainbow, 

 which in a few moments was gradually transferred into the bosom 

 of the cloud that immediately succeeded. The spray of the 

 Great Fall had extended itself through a wide space directly 

 over me, and, receiving the full influence of the sun, exhibited a 

 luminous and magnificent rainbow, which continued to over-arch 

 and irradiate the spot on which I stood, while I enthusiastically 

 contemplated the indescribable scene. 



The body of water which composes the middle part of the 

 Great Fall is so immense, that it descends nearly two-thirds of the 

 space, without being ruffled or broken and the solemn calmness 

 with which it rolls over the edge of the precipice is finely con- 

 trasted with the perturbed appearance it assumes after having 



153 



