138 A VOYAGE TO 



posed of a double row of arches, intended probably 

 for ornament, as it cannot be supposed that like the an- 

 cients, the constructors were ignorant of the principles 

 of hydraulics. This work is at present in a bad state 

 of repair, but we observed that workmen had been for 

 some time engaged in enlarging and improving it. 

 The prospect from this place is one of the most mag- 

 nificent I ever beheld. The scenery around the bay, 

 is like that on the borders of some extensive lake; on 

 the eastern side, instead of the immense mountains 

 which enclose it on every other, the country is beauti- 

 fully sloping, and with the aid of a spyglass we could| 

 discover plantations of coffee, or cotton, on a muchlar-| 

 ger scale than any we had seen in the course of ourl 

 walk. Towards the north-east, at a great distance,* 

 we could discern the Organ mountains, so called from 

 a number of singular peaks, apparently at the termina-| 

 tion of the ridge from their unequal elevation, and re-i 

 sembling huge basaltic columns. The bay, or rather 

 lake, was studded with a great variety of beautiful is- 

 lands, one of them, perhaps the largest, several leagues 

 in circumference. A number of small villages could 

 be distinguished at intervals around it, and the water 

 prospect was enlivened by a great number of vessels 

 of different kinds. The fatigue and labor we had 

 encountered, and the time we had consumed in scram- 

 bling up the mountain thus far, discouraged us from 

 attempting to accomplish our first design. It seemed 

 to us in fact, that we had scarcely gained more than 

 the foot of the mountain we had intended to scale. 

 We approached near enough, however, to form a tole- 

 rable idea of the Parrot's head; we could distinctly 

 see it to be a huge flat rock laid horizontally as a kind 



