The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
"The usual walk (through this deep cave open at the top) is
about half a mile in length, and its almost subterranean
river, in that distance, plunges over four precipices in
exceedingly beautiful cascades. On the successive rocky
terraces between the falls, the torrent takes every variety
of rapids and whirlpools, and, perhaps, in all the scenery
of the world, there is no river, which, in the same space,
presents so many of the various shapes and beauties of
running and falling water. The Indian name of the stream
(the Kanata, which means the _amber river_) expresses one of
its peculiarities, and, probably from the depth of shade
cast by the two dark and overhanging walls 'twixt which it
flows, the water is everywhere of a peculiarly rich lustre
and color, and, in the edges of one or two of the cascades,
as yellow as gold. Artists, in drawing this river, fail,
somehow, in giving the impression of _deep-down-itude_ which
is produced by the close approach of the two lofty walls of
rock, capped by the overleaning woods, and with the sky
apparently resting, like a ceiling, upon the leafy
architraves.... If there were truly, as the poets say
figuratively, "worlds _within_ worlds," this would look as
if an earthquake had cracked open the outer globe, and
exposed, through the yawning fissure, one of the rivers of
the globe below--the usual underground level of "down among
the dead men," being, as you walk upon its banks, between
you and the daylight.
"Considering the amount of surprise and pleasure which one
feels in a walk up the ravine at Trenton, it is remarkable
how little one finds to say about it, the day after. Is it
that mere scenery, without history, is enjoyable without
being suggestive, or, amid the tumult of the rushing torrent
at one's feet, is the milk of thought too much agitated for
the cream to rise? I fancied yesterday, as I rested on the
softest rock I could find at the upper end of the ravine,
that I should tumble you out a letter to-day, with ideas
pitching forth like saw-logs over a waterfall; but my memory
has nothing in it to-day but the rocks and rapids it took
in--the talent wrapped in its napkin of delight remaining in
unimproved _statu-quo_-sity. One certainly gets the
impression, while the sight and hearing are so overwhelmed,
that one's mind is famously at work, and that we shall hear
from it to-morrow; but it is Jean Paul, I think, who says
that 'the mill makes the most noise when there is no grist
in the hopper.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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