Further up the chasm, where the broken fronts of vertical walls begin, is a quiet retreat known as the Council Chamber, spanned by a pretty bridge that is hung upon opposite ledges and conducts to a passage that runs along a shelf, then down a stairs to a path that leads from the water’s edge to the town. The walls that enclose this strip of river are exceedingly beautiful, built up as they are with thin layers, of a few inches’ thickness, each strata being very distinct, and the face of the cliffs wrought into lovely shapes, with a shelf here and there as if inviting lovers to seek them for the delightful seclusion which they offer. The glen is about three miles in length, and the walls frequently three hundred feet in height, with enough variableness in the scenery to make it a source of unwearying admiration. Three miles south of Watkin’s Glen, and properly a continuation, for there is really a very brief interruption in the rugged character of the valley, is Havana Glen, quite as famous as its adjacent brother. The cliffs here are scarcely so vertical, but the general formation is practically the same, and similar means are provided for viewing its wonders to advantage. Bridal Veil Falls is Havana’s most alluring object, and well do they repay the tourist for his visit. The water at this point falls thirty feet down a very steep slope in a great column that, contracted at the plunge, spreads as it flows over a succession of terraces and dashes into the deep stream below with sullen roar. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: PEEK-A-BOO FALLS AND PICTURED CLEFT, WATKINS GLEN.—This romantic scene is thus beautifully described: Climbing out of Whirlpool Gorge and moving northward a short distance along a railed ledge, we come in sight of Peek-a-Boo Falls, a beautiful sheet of water plunging over a precipice fifty feet high, and scattering its spray along the walls that confine its descent, for the chasm is very narrow here, and charming for its sylvan weirdness. The cliffs are picturesque in stone, rising in tiers and carved into fantastic forms, while the overhanging trees, graceful ferns and velvety mosses make the place a bower in which fairies might love to dwell. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: EAGLE FALLS, HAVANA GLEN.] Portland Cascade is another charming fall, but the chasm being wider at this point and broken by many shelves, the water flows with less turbulence, though the cascades are made more beautiful by spreading into thin, veil-like sheets, so transparent that the wall behind them is visible. A bridge is thrown across the leaping stream, from which a glorious view is had of the chasm as it winds away towards the south, while the copse which fringes the western edge constitutes a bower of extraordinary loveliness.