244 : TRAVELS THROUGrf NORTH AMERICA : 
rock towards the bottom of the mountain be¬ 
ing undermined by a floods and giving way, 
may be very readily imagined : the rock above 
it, robbed of its support, would also fall; this 
would bring down with it numbers of others 
with which it was connected, and thus a dis¬ 
ruption would be produced from the base to 
the very summit of the mountain. 
The passage of the rivers through the ridge 
at this place is certainly a curious scene, and 
deserving of attention; but I am far from 
thinking with Mr. Jefferson, that it is one 
kV of the most stupendous scenes in nature, and 
worth a voyage across the Atlanticnor 
has it been my lot to meet with any person 
that had been a spectator of the §c6ne, after 
reading his description of it, but what also 
differed with him very materially in opinion. 
To find numberless scenes more stupendous, 
it would be needless to go farther than Wales. 
A river, it is true, is not to be met with in 
that country, equal in size to the Patowmac; 
but many arc to be seen there, rushing over 
their stony beds with much more turbulence 
and impetuosity than either the Patowmac 
or Shenandoah t the rocks, the precipices, and 
the mountains of the Blue Ridge at this place 
are diminutive and uninteresting also, com¬ 
pared with those which abound in that coun¬ 
try. Indeed, from every part of Mr. Jeff’er- 
