ROCKBRIDGE. 
'223 
might let fall a plummet from the hand to the 
very bottom of the chasm. On the opposite 
side this is not the case, nor is there any para¬ 
pet ; but from the edge of the road, which runs 
over the bridge, is a gradual slope to the brink 
of the chasm, upon which it is somewhat dan¬ 
gerous to venture. This slope is thickly cover¬ 
ed with large trees, principally cedars and 
pines. The opposite side was also well fur¬ 
nished with trees formerly, but all those which 
grew near the edge of the bridge have been 
cut down by different people, for the sake of 
seeing them tumble to the bottom. Before the 
trees were destroyed in this manner, you might 
have passed over the bridge without having had 
any idea of being upon it; for the breadth of 
it is no less than eighty feet, the road runs 
nearly in the middle, and is frequented daily by 
waggons. 
At the distance of a few yards from the bridge* 
a narrow path appears, winding along the sides 
of the fissure, amidst immense rocks and trees, 
clown to the bottom of the bridge. Here the 
stupendous arch appears in all its glory, and 
seems to touch the very skies. To behold it 
without rapture, indeed, is impossible ; and the 
more critically it is examined, the more beauti¬ 
ful and the more surprising does it appear. The 
height of the bridge to the top of the parapet 
