Science, Geology and Physics 



unutterable. When the spectator casts his eye over the long 1822 

 ranges of ragged cliffs, which form the shores of this great river Wlg ' 

 below the cataract; cliffs one hundred and fifty feet in height, 

 bordering it with lonely gloom and grandeur, and shrouded every 

 where by shaggy forests; when he surveys the precipice above, 

 stretching with so great an amplitude, rising to so great a height, 

 and presenting in a single view its awful brow, with an impression, 

 not a little enhanced by the division, which the island forms 

 between the two great branches of the river; when he contem- 

 plates the enormous mass of water, pouring from this astonishing 

 height in sheets so vast, and with a force so amazing; when, turn- 

 ing his eye to the flood beneath, he beholds the immense convul- 

 sion of the mighty mass; and listens to the majestic sound which 

 fills the heavens ; his mind is overwhelmed by thoughts too great, 

 and by impressions too powerful, to permit the current of the 

 intellect to flow with serenity. The disturbance of his mind 

 resembles that of the waters beneath him. His bosom swells 

 with emotions never felt, his thoughts labour in a manner never 

 known, before. The pleasure is exquisite but violent. The con- 

 ceptions are clear and strong, but rapid and tumultuous. The 

 struggle within is discovered by the fixedness of his position, the 

 deep solemnity of his aspect, and the intense gaze of his eye. 

 When he moves, his motions appear uncontrived. When he is 

 spoken to, he is silent; or, if he speaks, his answers are short 

 wandering from the subject, and indicating that absence of mind, 

 which is the result of labouring contemplation. 



All these impressions are heightened to a degree, which cannot 

 be conjectured, by the slowly ascending volumes of mist, rolled 

 and tossed into a thousand forms by the varying blast; and by 

 the splendour of the rainbow, successively illuminating their 

 bosom. At the same time, the spectator cannot but reflect, that 

 he is surveying the most remarkable object on the globe. Nor 

 will he fail to remember, that he stands upon a river, in most 

 respects equal, and in several of high distinctions superiour, to 

 every other; or that the inland seas which it empties, the mass of 



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