Impressions of America During the Years 1833, 1834 and 1835. Volume 1 (of 2)Power, Tyrone
History
Impressions of America During the Years 1833, 1834 and 1835. Volume 1 (of 2)
Power, Tyrone
Canada -- Description and travel; United States -- Description and travel
I found next day that here even there was a lion, in the shape of a
waterfall, to be visited before one could be permitted to take absolute
rest; so away I went to visit it,--a sort of waggon-omnibus being in
preparation to take the inmates through the wood to the fall.
A ride of some three miles brought us as close as might be to the spot,
and a walk of as many hundred yards presented to view a scene as well
suited for a witches' festival as any spot in the old Hartz.
In the season of melting snow this must doubtless be a grand affair, for
the fall is full three hundred feet deep; at present a mere rill crept
over the centre of the rocky amphitheatre, and, long before it reached
the basin beneath, it was changed into a silvery shower of light spray.
We found a mill-dam had appropriated all the surplus of the weakened
torrent, close by the head of the fall: as here was a day and night to
recruit in, a trifling bribe induced the sawyers to raise their
floodgates for our especial benefit.
The bargain being completed, we descended into the bed of the river near
the basin, and, giving the appointed signal, were indulged with a
momentary glimpse of the scene under better form; but still, I am
certain, received no idea of the effect produced here when the machinery
is complete.
After wandering a little way down the rugged bed of this misused
river,--for surely Nature never designed that its waters should be
arrested in their course to turn a saw-mill,--the party collected to
return: with two others, I decided upon walking back, and pleasant it is
to walk through these quiet wild wood-paths, where the chirp of the
birds and the rustle of the leaves alone break in upon the repose.
These mountains are everywhere thickly clothed with wood, saving only
the platform whereon the house is built; deer abound on the lower
ridges, and the bear yet finds ample cover here. A number of these
animals are killed every season by an indefatigable old Nimrod who lives
in the valley beneath, and who breeds some very fine dogs to this sport.
I did promise unto myself that during the coming November I would return
up here, and sojourn with the stout bear-hunter for a few days, for the
purpose of seeing Bruin baited in his proper lair; but regret to say my
plan was frustrated. It must be an exciting chase to rouse the lord of
this wild mountain forest on a sunny morning, with the first hoar frost
yet crisping the feathery pines; and to hear the deep-mouthed hounds
giving tongue where a hundred echoes wait to bay the fierce challenge
back, and to hear the sharp crack of the rifle rattle through the thin
air.
Or, whilst resting upon some crag under the blue sunny sky, to watch the
sea of cold clouds tumbling about far below, and think that they
o'er-canopy a region lower still, about which one's fellows are at the
moment creeping with red noses and watery eyes, or rubbing their frozen
fingers over anthracite stoves, utterly unconscious, poor devils! that
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