332 GIGANTIC FISSURE. 



On the left of the island we see the water at the botton?, 

 a white rolling mass moving away to the prolongation of 

 the fissure, which branches off near the left bank of the 

 river. A piece of the rock has fallen off a spot on the left 

 of the island, and juts out from the water below, and from 

 it I judged the distance which the water falls to be about 

 one hundred feet. The walls of this gigantic crack are 

 perpendicular, and composed of one homogeneous mass of 

 rock. The edge of that side over which the water falls is 

 worn off two or three feet, and pieces have fallen away, so 

 as to give it somewhat of a serrated appearance. That 

 over which the water does not fall is quite straight, except 

 at the left corner, where a rent appears and a piece seems 

 inclined to fall off. Upon the whole, it is nearly in the 

 state in which it was left at the period of its formation. 

 The rock is dark brown in color, except about ten feet from 

 the bottom, which is discolored by the annual rise of the 

 water to that or a greater height. On the left side of the 

 island we have a good view of the mass of water which 

 causes one of the columns of vapor to ascend, as it leaps 

 quite clear of the rock, and forms a thick unbroken fleece 

 all the way to the bottom. Its whiteness gave the idea of 

 snow, a sight I had not seen for many a day. As it broke 

 into (if I may use the term) pieces of water all rushing on 

 in the same direction, each gave off several rays of foam, 

 exactly as bits of steel, when burned in oxygen gas, give 

 off rays of sparks. The snow-white sheet seemed like 

 myriads of small comets rushing on in one direction, each 

 of which left behind its nucleus-rays of foam. I never saw 

 the appearance referred to noticed elsewhere. It seemed 

 to be the effect of the mass of water leaping at once clear 

 of the rock and but slowly breaking up into spray. 



I have mentioned that we saw five columns of vapoi 

 ascending from this strange ab}^. They are evidently 

 formed by the compression suffered by the force of the 

 water's own fall into an unyielding wedge-shaped space: 

 Of the five columns, two on the right and one on the left of 



