the rocky gorge until it reached the village of
Perewelle at the base of the line of mountains, whose cultivated
paddy-fields looked no larger than the squares upon a chess-board. On
the opposite side of the river rose a precipitous and impassable
mountain, even to a greater altitude than the facing ridge upon which I
stood, forming as grand a foreground as the eye could desire. Above,
below, around, there was the bellowing sound of heavy cataracts echoed
upon all sides.

Certainly this country is very magnificent, but it is an awful locality
for hunting, as the elk has too great an advantage over both hounds and
hunters. Mountainous patinas of the steepest inclination, broken here
and there by abrupt precipices, and with occasional level platforms of
waving grass, descend to the river's bed. These patina mountains are
crowned by extensive forests, and narrow belts of jungle descend from
the summit to the base, clothing the numerous ravines which furrow the
mountain's side. Thus the entire surface of the mountains forms a
series of rugged grasslands, so steep as to be ascended with the
greatest difficulty, and the elk lie in the forests on the summits and
also in the narrow belts which cover the ravines.

The whole country forms a gorge, like a gigantic letter V. At the
bottom roars the dreaded torrent, Fort M'Donald river, in a succession
of foaming cataracts, all of which, however grand individually, are
completely eclipsed by its last great plunge of three hundred feet
perpendicular depth into a dark and narrow chasm of wall-bound cliffs.

The bed of the river is the most frightful place that can be conceived,
being choked by enormous fragments of rock, amidst which the
irresistible torrent howls with a fury that it is impossible to
describe.

The river is confined on either side by rugged cliffs of gneiss rock,
from which these fragments have from time to time become detached, and
have accordingly fallen into the torrent, choking the bed and throwing
the obstructed waters into frightful commotion. Here they lie piled
one upon the other, like so many inverted cottages; here and there
forming dripping caverns; now forming walls of slippery rock, over
which the water falls in thundering volumes into pools black from their
mysterious depth, and from which there is no visible means of exit.
These dark and dangerous pools are walled in by hoary-looking rocks,
beneath which the pent-up water dives and boils in su