234 



CELEBES, 



[chap. 3ETI. 



Miiros river, situated at tlie point where it issues from the 

 momitains — a spot often visited by Imvellera and con- 

 sidered very l>eautifid. Mr. M. lent me a horse, aud 1 

 obtained a guide from a neiglibouriug vilJage ; and taking 

 one of my men with nie, we started at six in the morning, 

 and after a ride of two liours over the Hat riee-fields 

 skirting the niomitiuns mse in grand precipices on 



our left, we ixMuhed the river abont half-way between 

 i^Iaros and the fall.s, and thence had a good bridle-road to 

 our destination, whieli we readied in another hour. Tlie 

 hills had closed in round us as we advanced; and when 

 we reached a ruinous shed which had been erected for the 

 accommodation of visitors, we found oui*selves in a flat- 

 l)ottomed valley about a tjuarter of a mile wide, bounded 

 by ]>recipit<)us and often ov^-rhanging limestone rocks. S(j 

 far the ground had bi't^n c\dtivaled, but it now became 

 covered with bushes and lai^ge scattered trees. 



As soon as my scanty baggage liad arrived and was 

 duly deposited in the shed, I started off alone for the fiJl, 

 which wmi about a quarter of a mile further on. The 

 river is hen; about twenty yards widt;, and issues from a 

 ch;ism between two vertical walls of limestone, ovt>r a 

 ixnuided mass of basaltic rock about forty feet high, form- 

 ing two curves separated by a slight leilge. Tlie water 

 spreads beautifully over this surface in a thin sheet of 

 foam, which curls and eddies in a succession of concen- 

 tric cones till it falls into a fine deep pool below. Close 

 t<* the veiy edge of the fall a narr^)W and very rugged 

 path leads to the river above, and thence continues clost* 

 under the precipice along the water's edge, or sotnelinn s 

 iti the water, lor a few hundred yards, after which the 

 rocks recede a little, and leave a wooded bank on one 

 side, along which the path is contitmed, till in about 

 half a mile a second and smaller fall h reached. Here 

 the river seems to issue from a cavern, the rocks having 

 fallen from above so as to block up the chaimcl and bar 

 further progress. The hill itself can only be reached by 

 a path which ascends behind a huge slice of rock whicli 

 has imrtly fallen away from tlie mountain, leaving a space 

 two or tliree feet wide, but disclosing a dark chasm de- 

 scending into the bowels of the mountain, and whicli, 



