ut
is not more severe than what commonly takes place in those islands.
During summer the heat is somewhat greater; but there is not a night in
the year in which a blanket is not found comfortable. Fever and ague are
disorders here unknown; and the air is so salubrious, that persons who
come from the low country, afflicted with those disorders; get rid of
them in a short time.

In the western part of the country there are several medicinal springs,
to which, about the end of summer, great numbers of people resort, as
much for the sake of escaping the heat in the low country, as for
drinking the waters. Those that are most frequented are called the
_Sweet Springs_; but there are others in _Jackson's Mountains_, a ridge
that runs between the Blue Mountains and the Alleghany. One of these is
warm, and another quite hot. There is also a sulphur spring near them,
into which, if the leaves of trees fall, they become thickly incrusted
with sulphur, in a very short time; and silver, if put into them, will
be turned black almost immediately.

Mr. Weld, now bending his course in a northerly direction, again crossed
the _Fluvanna River_. About ten miles from this stream, there is, among
the mountains, a deep cleft or chasm, about two miles long, and, in some
places, three hundred feet deep. Over one part of this is a natural
arch, called _Rockbridge_, which consists of a solid mass of stone, or
of several stones so strongly cemented together that they appear but as
one. The road extends over this natural bridge. On one side of it is a
parapet or wall of fixed rocks, but on the other there is a gradual
slope, to the very brink of the chasm. The slope is thickly covered with
large trees, principally cedars and pines. The whole width of the bridge
is about eighty feet: the road runs nearly along the middle of it, and
is passed daily by waggons.

At the distance of a few yards from the bridge there is a narrow path,
which winds, along the sides of the fissure, and amidst immense rocks
and trees, down to the bottom of the chasm. Here the stupendous arch
appears in all its glory, and seems even to touch the skies. The height,
to the top of the parapet, is two hundred and thirteen feet. The rocks
are of limestone, and nearly perpendicular; and the sides of the chasm
are thickly clad with trees, wherever there is space sufficient to admit
of their growth. A small stream runs at the bottom of the fissure, over
beds of rock, and adds much