te
rolling mass moving away to the prolongation of the fissure, which
branches off near the left bank of the river. A piece of the rock has
fallen off a spot on the left of the island, and juts out from the water
below, and from it I judged the distance which the water falls to be
about 100 feet. The walls of this gigantic crack are perpendicular, and
composed of one homogeneous mass of rock. The edge of that side over
which the water falls is worn off two or three feet, and pieces have
fallen away, so as to give it somewhat of a serrated appearance. That
over which the water does not fall is quite straight, except at the left
corner, where a rent appears, and a piece seems inclined to fall off.
Upon the whole, it is nearly in the state in which it was left at the
period of its formation. The rock is dark brown in color, except about
ten feet from the bottom, which is discolored by the annual rise of the
water to that or a greater height. On the left side of the island we
have a good view of the mass of water which causes one of the columns of
vapor to ascend, as it leaps quite clear of the rock, and forms a thick
unbroken fleece all the way to the bottom. Its whiteness gave the idea
of snow, a sight I had not seen for many a day. As it broke into (if I
may use the term) pieces of water, all rushing on in the same direction,
each gave off several rays of foam, exactly as bits of steel, when
burned in oxygen gas, give off rays of sparks. The snow-white sheet
seemed like myriads of small comets rushing on in one direction, each of
which left behind its nucleus rays of foam. I never saw the appearance
referred to noticed elsewhere. It seemed to be the effect of the mass of
water leaping at once clear of the rock, and but slowly breaking up into
spray.

I have mentioned that we saw five columns of vapor ascending from this
strange abyss. They are evidently formed by the compression suffered by
the force of the water's own fall into an unyielding wedge-shaped space.
Of the five columns, two on the right and one on the left of the island
were the largest, and the streams which formed them seemed each to
exceed in size the falls of the Clyde at Stonebyres when that river is
in flood. This was the period of low water in the Leeambye; but, as
far as I could guess, there was a flow of five or six hundred yards of
water, which, at the edge of the fall, seemed at least three feet deep.
I write in the hope that others, more capable