illVERSi 



The situation of the rapids is truly dellghtfuL 

 The river is full a mile wide, and the fall of water, 

 Ivhich is an eternal cascade, appears as if nature had 

 designed it to show how inimitable and stupendous 

 are her works.. ..Its breadth contributes to its subli* 

 mity ; and the continually rumbling noise tends to 

 exhilerate the spirits, and gives a cheerfulness even 

 to sluggards. ...The view" up the river is terminated, 

 at the distance of four leagues, by an island in the 

 centre, which is contrasted by the plain on the oppo- 

 site shore, that extends a long way into the country ; 

 but, the eye receding, finds new beauties, and ample 

 subject for admiration, in the rising hills of Silver 

 creek, which, stretching obliquely, to the north-west, 

 proudly rise higher and higher as they extend, until 



their summits are lost in air Clarksville, on the 



opposite shore, completes the prospect, and from its 

 neighbourhood, and from the settlement forming 

 upon the officers' lands, in a few years must afford 

 us a cultivated country, to blend appropriate beauty 

 with the charms of imagination. There lies a small 

 island in the river, about two hundred yards from 

 the eastern shore ; between which and the main is a 

 quarry of excellent stone for building, the greater 

 part of which is dry the latter end of Summer. The 

 banks of the river are never overflowed here, they 

 being fifty feet higher than the bed of the river. 



The disposition of the waters of this river to pe- 

 trify, is well known : at the falls in particular these 

 petrifactions abound. In Mr. Volney's opinion, 

 as noted in the preceding pages, these petrifactions 

 are only on the surface of the rock, and are not im- 

 bedded in it. He concludes, therefore^ that the sub- 



