224 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERICA: 
is two hundred and thirteen feet by admea* 
Surement with a line; the thickness of the 
arch forty feet; the span of the arch at 
top ninety feet; and the distance between 
the abutments at bottom fifty feet. The abut¬ 
ments consist of a solid mass of limestone 
on either side,, and, together with the arch, 
seem as if they had been chiseled out by 
the hand of art. A small stream, called Cedar 
Creek, running at the bottom of the fissure, 
over beds of rocks, adds much to the beauty 
of the scene. 
The fissure takes a very sudden turn just 
above the bridge, according to the course of the 
stream, so that when you stand below, and look 
under the arch, the view is intercepted at the 
distance of about fifty yards from the bridge. 
Mr. Jefferson's statement, in his notes, that the 
fissure continues straight, terminating with a 
pleasing view of the North Mountains, is quite 
erroneous. The sides of the chasm are thickly 
covered in every part with trees, excepting 
where the huge rocks of limestone appear 
Besides this view from below, the bridge! s 
seen to very great advantage from a pinnacle 
of rocks, about fifty feet below the top of the 
fissure; for here not only the arch is seen in 
all its beauty, but the spectator is impressed in 
the most forcible manner with ideas of its 
11 
