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is replete with rapids, and other impediments to navigation. Among others, the cataract most celebrated for its beauty and surrounding scenery, is situated about four miles from the river's mouth, where, narrowed by jutting rocks, extending from each side, the precipice, over which the waters rush, is scarcely more than 390 feet in breadth; and the height from which they descend, is about 130 feet. Huge masses of rock, which appear to have been rent from their primeval bed by some violent convulsion of nature, rise above the surface of the current, just at the break of the fall, and divide the stream into three portions, forming secondary cascades, which re-unite their waters, before they reach the basin below. In some parts, large sheets of water roll unbroken to the bottom; in other places, the liquid element dashes from one fragment of rock to another with wild impetuosity, bellowing and foaming in every hollow cavity that obstructs its progress; thence it rushes down, with the rapidity of lightning, into the boiling surge beneath, where it rages with inconceivable fury, till it, is hurried away by a fresh torrent, and loses itself in the channel of the St. Lawrence.

GREAT FALL ON THE RIVER ST. JOHN.

Ar the distance of a few miles eastward of the Chaudière, rises the river St. John, which flows through New Brunswick, in its way to Fundy Bay, where its waters are discharged. Just after leaving the Canadian border, the river rushes with great fury over a rocky bed, till, being suddenly narrowed by projections of the cliffs on either side, it rolls impetuously over their ledges, in a perpendicular line of forty-five feet, into a narrow basin of pointed rocks, amid which it foams and rages till it escapes, through a narrow rocky channel, over a series of declivities, half a mile in continuance, and each forming a distinct cascade.

The scenery about these falls is described as grand and sublime; consisting of towering abrupt eminences, precipitous crags, and dark unpenetrated forests.

At the mouth of the river, about a mile above the town of St. John's, are alternate falls, inward and outward, every tide; occasioned by the narrowness of the channel, and a ridge of rocks across its bottom, which intercept the water in its passage to and from the sea. At the ebb, the waters of the river are penned up about twelve feet higher than those of the bay, and an outward fall occurs: but at high water, the sea rises about five feet higher than the river, and rushes through the strait, with an inward fall.

BELLOWS FALLS, ON THE CONNECTICUT. PASSING from the British territories into those of the United States, the first cataract of importance we meet with is denominated the Bellows Falls, at Walpole, on the Connecticut river. The whole descent of the river, in the space of two furlongs and a half, is forty-four feet; and it includes several pitches, one below another, at the highest of which a large rock divides the stream into two channels, each about ninety feet wide. When the water is low, the eastern channel is dry, being crossed by a solid rock, and the wholo stream falls into the western channel, where, being contracted to the breadth of sixteen feet, it flows with astonishing force and rapidity. A bridge has been built over these falls, from which an advantageous view is had of their interesting and romantic scenery.

CAHOOS FALLS, ON THE MOHAWK RIVER. IN the state of New York, about two miles from the mouth of the Mohawk river, are the falls called Cahoos, or Cahoes, where the river, about a thousand feet broad, descends, at high water, in one sheet, to the depth of seventy feet, affording a grand spectacle from the bridge, which has been built across the Mohawk, about three quarters of a mile below the cataract.

FALL ON THE HOUSATONICK RIVER. THIS river rises in the western part of Massachusetts, and enters Connecticut near its north-west corner. About seven miles from the boundary of the two states, the water of the whole river, which is 450 feet across, is precipitated over a perpendicular fall of sixty feet.

PASSAICK FALLS.

THE river Passaick rises in the northern part of New Jersey, and, after a circuitous course, falls into Newark Bay. At the town of Patterson, about twenty miles from its mouth, is the Great Fall, where the river, about 120 feet wide, and running with a very swift current, reaches

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at the other with incredible rapidity, in an acute angle to its former direction, and is received into a large basin. It thence takes a winding course through the rocks, and spreads again into a very considerable channel. The cleft is from four to twelve feet in breadth, and is supposed to have been produced by an earthquake. When this cataract was visited by a late British traveller, the spray refracted two beautiful rainbows, primary and secondary, which greatly assisted in producing as fine a scene as imagination can conceive. It was also heightened by the effect of another fall, of less magnificence, about ninety feet above.

In the same state, are the FALLS OF TRENTON, opposite the town of that name, on the Delaware River.

FALLS OF THE POTOMACK.

THE Potomack, which forms the boundary between the states of Maryland and Virginia, is navigable to the city of Washington; above which it is obstructed by several falls, FALLS, three miles above Washington, with a descent of of which the following are the most remarkable. 1. LITTLE thirty-seven feet. 2. GREAT FALLS, eight and a half miles further up, with a descent of seventy-six feet; which have been made navigable by means of five locks. 3. SENECA FALLS, six miles above, descending ten feet. 4. SHENANDOAH FALLS, sixty miles higher up the river, where the Potomack breaks through the blue ridge, at Harper's Ferry. 5. HOURE'S FALLS, five miles above the Shenaningly diversified; particularly No. 4, which is much celedoah. They all possess interesting characteristics, pleasbrated for its grandeur and magnificence.

VIRGINIA AND GEORGIA.

IN addition to the cataracts in the United States, above enumerated, we may notice

1. The FALLING SPRING, in Bath county, Virginia, which forms a beautiful cascade, streaming from a perpendicular precipice, 200 feet high.

2. The TUCCOA FALL, in Franklin county, Georgia, which, though one of the most beautiful that can be conceived, is scarcely yet known to our geographers. It is much higher than the great fall of Niagara, and the water is propelled over a perpendicular rock. When the stream is full, it pours over the steep in one expansive magnificent sheet, amid clouds of spray, on which the prismatic colours are reflected with a most enchanting effect.

SOUTH AMERICA.

CATARACTS OF THE PUSAMBIO. THE little village of Purace, in the province of Popayan, Columbia, is situated on a great plain among the Andes, at an elevation of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. This plain is bounded by two extremely deep ravines, presenting frightful precipices, the effect of earthquakes and convulsions of the neighbouring volcano. On the plain, rises the small river Pusambio, which is warm towards the source, and so impregnated with oxide of iron, and sulphuric and muriatic acids, that the Spaniards have denominated it Rio Vinagre.

This river, which, probably, owes its origin to the daily

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melting of the snows, and the sulphur that burns in the interior of the volcano, forms, near the plain of Corazan, three cataracts, the two uppermost of which are very considerable. The water, after making its way through a cavern, precipitates itself down nearly 400 feet. The fall is extremely picturesque, and attracts the attention of travellers; but the waters are so pernicious, that the Rio Cauca, into which it flows, is destitute of fish for four leagues afterwards.

FALLS ON THE ORONOCO.

THE cataracts on the Oronoco occur 740 miles from its mouth, and 760 from its source, at the villages Maypura and Atures, near the great bend of the river. They are three in number, and are represented as the most tremendous falls that have ever been observed; but no good description has been given of them, though they constitute the only outlets from the country east of the Andes, to the vast plains of the Amazons.

THE TEQUENDAMA CATARACT.

THIS celebrated fall is upon the River Bogota, near the town of Santa Fé, in the Columbian Republic. At a little distance above the fall, the river is about 140 feet wide; but as it approaches the chasm through which it dashes, its breadth is suddenly diminished to thirty-five feet. Thus contracted, the current gains accumulated force, and rushes down a perpendicular rock, at two bounds, to the depth of 600 feet, into a dark unfathomable abyss, out of which the river again issues, under the name of Rio Meta. The face of the rock, which finishes and borders the vast plain of Bogota, near the cataract, is so steep that it occupies three hours in the descent: and the basin, or gulf, into which the water is precipitated, cannot be approached very closely, as the rapidity of the stream, the deafening noise of the cataract, and the dense mass of spray, render it impossible to get nearer the edges of the abyss than 400 or 500 feet. The loneliness of the spot, the tumultuous roar of the waters, and the beauties of the

THE NILE.

AFRICA.

THIS celebrated river, through its long and fertilizing range of about 2000 British miles, in winding through abrupt and precipitous countries, exhibits very considerable cataracts; ten or twelve of which, having a descent of more than twenty feet, occur before it reaches the plains of Egypt. One, styled by way of eminence, the CATARACT OF THE NILE, was visited by Mr. Bruce, from whose account the following particulars are extracted.

At the distance of half a mile below the cataract, the river is confined between two rocks, over which a strong bridge, of a single arch, has been thrown; and here the current runs into a deep trough, with great roaring and an impetuous velocity. Higher up, the cataract presents itself, amid groves of beautiful trees, and exhibits a most magnificent and stupendous sight. At the time of Mr. Bruce's visit, the river had been swollen by rains, and fell in a single sheet of water, about half a mile in breadth, to the depth of at least fifty feet, with a force and noise that were truly terrific. A thick fume or haze covered the fall in every part, and hung over the course of the stream, both above and below, marking its track, though the waters were not seen. The river preserved its natural clearness, and fell, partly into a deep pool, or basin, in the solid rock, partly, in twenty different eddies, to the very foot of the precipice. In falling, a portion of the stream appeared to run back with great fury on the rock, as well as forward in

the line of its course, raising waves, or violent ebullitions, which chafed against each other.

Notwithstanding this animated description of Mr. Bruce, other travellers, either from possessing less vivacity of feeling, or from visiting the spot under less favourable circumstances, speak of the cataracts of the Nile, as mere rapids, scarcely deserving the title of cascades. Mr. Legh speaks of the fall at Syene, as formed merely by the river forcing its way, in a contracted channel, through rocks, which form several ledges across it. He admits, however, that considerable grandeur of effect is produced by this wild disorder of the rocks, the absence of all cultivation, the murmur of the water, and the desolate character of the whole scene. Mr. Burckhardt describes the cataract a little higher up the river, as formed by only a part of the stream, about sixty feet in breadth.

WATERFALL MOUNTAIN. THE great chain of mountains, which runs from north to south, through the colony of Good Hope, divides into two branches, one stretching south-east, the other due south. At the extremity of the latter branch is the WATERFALL MOUNTAIN; in one of the clefts of which, a large stream of water, between thirty and forty feet broad, falls from the high rock above, to a depth of from eighty to ninety feet, where it is received in a vast and deep basin, excavated in the stone by the perpetual weight and action of the descending flood. After abundant rains, this cataract is in its full beauty.

ASIA.

SOURCES OF THE MENDER. THE river Mender, the Scamander of Homer, has its source in some beautiful cascades, surrounded with romantic alpine scenery, in the ancient Troas. The ascent to these falls is, for a time, steep and rocky; lofty summits towering above, while the torrent, in its rugged bed, foams below. At length, the traveller reaches a kind of natural amphitheatre, surrounded with huge craggy rocks, rising perpendicularly to an immense height, and covered with pines, enormous palm-trees, and a variety of evergreen shrubs, growing in fantastic shapes, in every possible direction. The noise of the torrent drowns all other sounds; and, as the spectator advances, his eye is charmed with

the sight of several foaming cascades, pouring impetuously from chasms in the face of a perpendicular rock. Prior to its descent, the water is received into a beautiful natural basin, six or eight feet in depth, which serves as a reservoir during the first moments of its emission. This basin is only to be attained by hazardous clambering up the cliff, to a height of about forty feet; and then it is seen, that the chasms are natural caverns, through which the water rushes with great force from beneath the rock, towards the basin on the outside; and the copious overflowings of this reservoir form the cascades. The scene is truly magnificent; and the flow of water is said to continue the same all the year round, unaffected by casualties from rain or melting snow.

CATARACTS OF EUROPE.

NORWAY AND SWEDEN.

IN Norway, the multitude of springs that issue from the lofty mountains, and the vast masses of snow which accumulate on their summits, and gently dissolve during summer, give rise to numerous lakes, and a considerable number of rivers; the largest of which is the GLOMMEN; but none of them are navigable far up the country, the passage being continually interrupted by rocks, and, in some places, by fearful cataracts, where the stream precipitates itself from heights of from 250 to 500 feet.

In Sweden, about fifty miles above the city of Göttenburgh, the river Götha rushes down the fall of TROLLHETTA, into a deep pit, with a terrific noise, and with such force, that trees floated down the river are frequently shattered to pieces, or dive so far beneath the water, as to disappear for a quarter of an hour, half an hour, and sometimes not less than three-quarters of an hour. The river, which is very wide before it reaches the falls, is confined by the rocks within a narrow channel; and its course is still more restricted by several rocky islands in the middle of the stream. The whole descent is estimated at 100 feet; but, as the falls are four in number, each is only about twenty-five feet, and the bottom slopes, so that the water runs as in a spout. Its rapidity is very great; the noise is heard at the distance of a league, and the falls are constantly covered with foam. The pit into which the torrent is precipitated, has been sounded with a line of several hundred fathoms, without reaching the bottom.

The river DAL, the third in Sweden for size, rises in the mountains on the Norwegian borders, and, passing through Dalecarlia, forms a grand cataract, not far from its confluence with the gulf of Bothnia.

SWITZERLAND.

Or all parts of Europe, Switzerland is the country in which the greatest number of rivers take their rise, in a bold and precipitous alpine district, which offers a variety of waterfalls and torrents, well worthy of notice.

THE STAUB BACH.

NEAR the village of Lauterbrunn, in the canton of Bern, this celebrated cataract rushes tempestuously down a rocky declivity, variously estimated at 900 and 1400 feet in height. As it falls, the pillar of water disperses a fine shower, which does not descend perpendicularly, but yields a little to the wind. It then meets with a projecting ledge of rock, down the side of which a portion of the water runs in single streams, while the remainder dashes below in clouds.

FALL OF THE RHINE.

DURING the course of this river in Switzerland, its scenery is often bold and romantic; and at the village of Lauffen, about a league from Schaffhausen, is a tremendous cataract, where the river, not less than 450 feet in breadth, is precipitated from a rock seventy feet in height; being, for mass of waters, the largest, though not the highest cataract, in civilized Europe. Nearly midway of the stream, is a rock, which divides it into two falls at the top, but they are quickly re-united, and descend to the bottom in one broad sheet, The fall is so rapid, that the water is thrown up to a great height in a white dense cloud, which conceals all beyond it; every bush on the rocky shores is continually dripping wet; and when the sun shines, the colours of the rainbow play fancifully in the froth and rising vapour. The tumult of the water is so great, that its noise is heard, in calm weather, at the distance of two or three leagues.

SOURCE OF THE RHÔNE. THIS fine river rises in the highest part of Switzerland, at the foot of Mount Furca, only five miles from the source of the Rhine. Gushing from a stupendous glacier, ten thousand feet above the level of the sea, this river precipi tates itself, with great noise, into the vale beneath, bearing the appearance of a single cataract, with several cascades. Its general rapidity is strongly marked by a fall of 3000 feet before it reaches the lake of Geneva. Its waters are augmented by an almost infinite number of tributary torrents and streams, that descend from the sides of the adjacent mountains, till it rolls a large collected volume of turbid water into the transparent lake; from the opposite extremity of which, it issues in a purer stream, to proceed

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THE Reuss, one of the largest rivers of Switzerland, issues from the small lake Luzendro, in mount St Gothard, and, flowing through a very mountainous country, has a number of waterfalls, among which is the one represented in our cut, where the river, precipitating itself down a deep narrow valley, in the canton of Uri, has a fall of more than 100 feet. Över a part of this cataract, at about threefourths of its height, a wooden bridge, called, from its romantic situation, the DEVIL'S BRIDGE, has been thrown from rock to rock. It consists of a single arch, eighty feet in span; and appears so wonderful to the country people, that they imagine nothing short of supernatural agency could have placed it there; and they have many legendary tales respecting it.

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SAVOY. THIS Country is not less mountainous than that of Switzer land; indeed, its characteristic features consist of bleak and rugged mountains, rocks, precipices, and forests; interspersed with streams, at one time dashing among precipitous ridges of rocks, and forming magnificent cascades; at another, expanding into beautiful sheets, winding slowly through the bottom of a pleasant valley, or losing themselves in the gloom of a forest.

THE NUN OF ARPENA.

THE river Arve runs for many miles between high, craggy, and inaccessible rocks, which seem as if split on purpose to give its rapid waters a free passage. The surprising echoes and continued sounds occasioned by its streams, &c. are reverberated three, four, and, in some parts, six or seven times, with a noise so deep and wild, as to strike a stranger with terror. The cataracts are, in several places, more or less loud and terrible, as the waters are more or less swollen by the melting snows, which cover the tops of the surrounding mountains. One, in particular, called by the natives the NUN OF ARPENA, falls from a prodigious rock, in a descent of above 1100 feet, with a noise and violence that astound the beholder.

FALLS OF CERESOLI AND EVANSON.

THE river Oreo, rising in Mount Rosa, and fed by numerous streams from the St. Gothard, Mount Cenis, and some branches of the Apennines, forms, at CERESOLI, a vertical cataract of 2400 feet.

The torrent EVANSON, descending from another part of Mount Rosa, exhibits, about half a mile from Vernez, a fall of more than 1200 feet, and rolls down pebbles of quartz, veined with the gold that is occasionally traced in the mountains of Challand.

ITALY.

CADUTA DELLE MARMORA.

THIS cataract is on the Evelino, and receives its name(Marble Cascade) from the mountain down which the river falls being almost wholly of marble. It is situated about three miles from Terni, and is approached by a road partly cut in the side of the mountain, on the edge of a frightful precipice: but on reaching the top, the adventurous explorer is amply rewarded by a view of this stupendous cataract, as it rushes in several streams from the mountain, and is precipitated down a perpendicular height of 300 feet, with a thundering noise. The waters breaking against lateral rocks, cause an ascent of spray and vapour much higher than the summit of the cataract, so that the neighbouring valley receives a perpetual fall of rain. After this descent, the waters rush into the cavities of the rocks, whence they again burst out through several openings, and at length reach the bed of the river.

FALL OF TEVERONE.

THE river Teverone, anciently the Anio, glides gently through the town of Tivoli, till, reaching the brink of a steep rock, it is precipitated nearly 100 feet down in one mass; and, after boiling up in its narrow channel, it rushes through a chasm of the rock, into a cavern below. At the foot of the cataract, the water, in a succession of ages, has hollowed grottoes of various shapes and sizes, so beautifully picturesque as to baffle all description. Of these, the GROTTO OF NEPTUNE is the most celebrated. Near to it, are three minor cascades, which rush, with a murmuring noise, through the ruins of the villa of Mecanas, down the woody steep which forms the opposite bank of the river, and present to the eye a pleasingly romantic scene.

The river Teverone, receives the stream issuing from the LAGO DI BAGNI, formerly the Lacus Albulus. This is a small lake, but remarkable for its floating islets, formed of matted sedge and herbage, with a soil of dust and sand blown from the adjacent country, and cemented by the bitumen and sulphur, with which the water of the lake is impregnated. Some of these islets are forty-five feet long, and will bear five or six people, who, by means of a pole, may move about to different parts of the lake. The water of this lake is of a whitish colour, emitting a sulphureous vapour, and has a petrifying quality.

DALMATIA.

NEAR the north-eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, in Austrian Dalmatia, is the village of VELIKA GUBAVIZA, where the river Cettina has a magnificent cataract. The stream is precipitated from a height of above 150 feet, forming a deep majestic, sound, which is heightened by the echo reverberated between the naked marble banks,

CATARACTS OF BRITAIN. WE now come to the cataracts of our own country; among which are to be found as much of magnificence, and, with the exception of such falls as those of Niagara, little less of stupendous grandeur, than in those of distant parts of the world; though too much neglected, from the prevalent taste for foreign beauties. Commencing with North Britain, our attention is first arrested by a fall on

THE GLAMMA RIVER.

tainous county of Ross, though situated amidst the constant THIS cascade, in the heights of Glen Elchaig, in the mounobscurity of woody hills, is truly sublime.

river, one of those natural wonders which distinguish the In the same county, is the grand cataract of the KIRKAG western borders of Ross-shire.

Near the old village of Keith, in Banffshire, the river Isla is precipitated over a high rock, and forms a considerable cataract, called the LINN OF KEITH.

On the Isla, in Forfarshire, there is a cataract, called the ROCKY LINN, situate in the narrow vale of Glen Isla, with a fall of seventy or eighty feet.

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THIS cataract, near Loch Ness, is situated in a darksome glen of stupendous depth. It consists of two falls, the Upper and Lower, with an interval of about half a mile between them. At the former, the river Foyers, being confined by steep rocks, precipitates itself, with great velocity, at three leaps, down as many precipices, whose united depth is about 200 feet. Just above the third leap, a stone bridge has been thrown over the ravine; prior to the erection of which, the only passage over this torrent was a rude alpine bridge, consisting of some sticks thrown from rock to rock, and covered with turf.

About half a mile lower down the river, is the Lower Fall. The water, after flowing through a narrow, rocky channel, suddenly makes a descent of 212 feet. The appearance of this fall is truly grand, and allowed, by many travellers, to surpass that of any other European cataract, that of Terni, in Italy, only excepted. A dense mist constantly arises from the broken water, and the noise of the fall may be usually heard at a considerable distance. After heavy rains, the scene is beyond measure impressive and terrific: in times of comparative drought, the water finds a sufficiently capacious channel through an orifice, nearly arched over by the worn rocks, and quietly spreads, like a long white web, over the precipice.

MARINE CATARACT OF LOCH ETIF. THIS loch forms a navigable inlet of the sea, in Argyleshire, and is surrounded with scenery peculiarly romantic. About seven miles from its communication with the ocean, the lake is contracted into a narrow channel, called, in

Celtic, Connel, signifying rage or fury; a name well adapted to the place; for a ridge of uneven rocks here stretches across two-thirds of the channel, and occasions, at particular times of the tide, a current flowing with great rapidity; and, when swollen by a spring-tide, it discharges itself, as soon as the ebb begins, with a violence and noise unequalled by the loudest cataract, and which may be heard at the distance of many miles.

CASCADES IN ENGLAND.

WE now enter England, and pause awhile in CUMBERLAND, where are several waterfalls, which, if not remarkable for their stupendous character, are still pleasing for their sublime and picturesque beauties. SCALE FORCE, in the vicinity of Buttermere, and LOWDORE WATERFALL, cannot be viewed without admiration: and SOUR MILK FORCE, near the bottom of Buttermere Lake, has a character of grandeur in its fall of 900 feet.

In WESTMORELAND, near Great Langdale, are the beautiful cascades of SKELWITH and COLWITH FORCES, amid a romantic cluster of very fine mountains, yielding blue slate. These cascades are rivalled by a remarkable FALL OF THE TEES,

On the western side of the county of DURHAM, and border of Westmoreland. The river, obstructed and divided by a perpendicular rock, descends in a double cataract from the top; but, reuniting its waters before they reach the bottom, the whole dashes into the basin below, with a degree of sublime grandeur, scarcely inferior in effect to the cataracts of Switzerland, or even of America. The foam is thrown up to a considerable height, and adds to the wild beauties of the surrounding scenery.

Below this fall, the stream, called LANGDON BECK, pours its waters into the Tees, over a rock thirty feet high. In YORKSHIRE (North Riding), are the following cataracts, called Forces, on or near the river Yore, or Ure.

HARDROW FORCE, formed by a rivulet, which joins the Yore near Askrigg, and rushes, in a large sheet of water, over a ledge of rocks ninety-nine feet in height. The chasm below the fall is about 900 feet in length, and bounded on each side by huge masses of rock. During severe frosts, the water has formed an immense circle of ninety feet in circumference.

WHITFIELD GILL and MILL GILL FORCES are in the same vicinity; a little below which is AYSGARTH FORCE, the finest waterfall in the county. Here the river Yore pours its whole waters over an irregular ridge of rocks. Above the fall, is a bridge, of one arch, with a span of seventyone feet, from which a most romantic view presents itself, comprising a succession of waterfalls, amidst intermingled rocks and foliage, with the steeple of the church emerging from a copse, to give a human interest to all the rest.

At Richmond, under the ruined walls of the castle, the river SWALE, forms a pleasing cascade.

The vicinity of INGLETON, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is replete with natural curiosities, among which the following are selected, as suitable to our present purpose:YORDAS CAVE, in King's Dale, bordering on Westmoreland, is about 150 feet in length, and contains a subterraneous cascade, surrounded with awfully sublime scenery.

At a little distance from Ingleton, is the more celebrated, because larger, CAVE OF WETHERCOT, in which is a cascade, falling from a height of about seventy-five feet. This cave,

one of the most surprising natural curiosities in Great Britain, is situated in a low field, and is about 100 feet deep, 180 long, and 90 broad. It is divided into two parts, by a rude grotesque arch of limestone rock. At the south end is an entrance to this abyss, where the astonished visitant beholds a cataract issuing from an immense aperture in the rock, falling seventy-five feet in an unbroken sheet of water, with a deafening noise. The stream disappears among the rocks at the bottom; but, after running about a mile through a subterraneous passage, it again emerges. The cave is filled with the spray of the dashing water, which sometimes produces a small rainbow, of extraordinary brilliancy. One of the most surprising features of this scene is a stone, of enormous magnitude, suspended by its opposite angles, touching the sides of a crevice, over the orifice whence the cascade issues. The river Wease pervades this cavern, and another at Gatekirk, and runs about two miles underground.

About a mile to the southward, is DANK CAVE, which resembles the Wethercot, but is on a smaller scale, the fall of its stream being not more than twenty-five or thirty feet.

Thornton Scar, about two or three miles from Ingleton, is an immense rocky cliff, rising to the height of 300 feet, and partly clothed with wood. Near this cliff is THORNTON FORCE, a beautiful cataract, rushing from the rocks, with a fall of ninety feet, in one sheet of water, sixteen feet wide. Among the natural curiosities of the WELSH Mountains, the falls of the Cayne and Mawddach, in Merionethshire, cannot fail to attract notice.

The former, called by the natives PISTIL-Y-CAYNE, when viewed from below, the only point from which it can be seen with advantage, is very magnificent. A sheet of water pours down a rugged declivity, 200 feet in perpendicular height. The sides of the fall are thickly mantled with woods; and the agitated waters are received, at the bottom of their descent, into vast hollows of the rocks, which their perpetual action has excavated, and from which they boil and force their way to join those of the Mawddach, a little below. When the sun shines upon this fall, it is said to be brilliant beyond conception.

The PISTIL-Y-MAWDDACH consists of three distinct falls; all of which are exposed to view at once. The first is about twenty feet wide, and nearly the same in height, falling into a deep pool, thirty feet in diameter. From this it glides over a second ledge, and descends, by a fall of thirty feet, into a second basin, of larger dimensions. It again descends, by a third fall, of about twenty feet in perpendicular height, into the largest and deepest pool, over the brim of which it escapes, and descends, foaming amidst the rocky crags, to join the Cayne.

In DEVONSHIRE, a few miles from Tavistock, the river Tamar receives the stream of the Lyd, which is peculiarly remarkable for being pent up by rocks, at the bridge, a little above the confluence, and running so deep beneath, that the water is scarcely to be seen, nor its murmurs heard, by persons above; the bridge being on a level with the road, and the water nearly seventy feet below it. Within a mile of this place is a cataract, where the water falls above a hundred feet. The river passes a mill at some distance above the cataract, and, after a course on a descent of little less than 100 feet from the level of the mill, reaches the brink of the precipice, whence it is precipitated in a most beautiful and picturesque manner, and, striking on a part of the cliff, rushes from it, in a wider cataract, to the bottom; where again falling with considerable violence, it makes a deep and foaming basin in the ground. This fine sheet of water causes the surrounding air at the bottom to be so impregnated with aqueous particles, that visitors find themselves in a mist, and gratify their curiosity at the expense of being wetted to the skin.

IRELAND may not improperly be termed an island of natural wonders: its loughs, its bogs, its caverns, its basaltic pillars and volcanic remains, have been repeatedly described; but of its waterfalls, very little notice seems to have been taken. The SALMON LEAP in the Shannon, is spoken of as an interesting cascade; and the cataract at POWERSCOURT, in Wicklow county, is reported to have a fall of 300 feet perpendicular: but particulars are wanting.

Succeeding Papers of this series will embrace the subjects of Volcanoes, Caverns, &c.

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