The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 3, February, 1836Various
General
The Southern Literary Messenger, Vol. II., No. 3, February, 1836
Various
American literature -- 19th century -- Periodicals
vast waters--but alas, their graves and those of their fathers are
mingling with the common dust! Near this urn are the remains of an
Indian's fire, which he had lighted at the close of his fast, when
propitiating his Manito--a place well calculated to foster the
wildness of superstition, and which to a mind more enlightened than
that of the poor wanderer of the wilderness, would not be deficient in
suggestions of mystery. Who can wonder that the untaught natives of a
region like this, should make to themselves a Deity in the rushing
stream or the beetling cliff? They act from the impulse of nature, and
well will it be for those who enjoy every advantage that civilization
and Christianity can bestow, if when weighed in the balance, even with
the pagan Indian, they are not found wanting. We were soon at the top
of the Doric Rock, and from its dizzy height the prospect was such as
to preclude all attempt at delineation, at least by language. Your
brother expressed his emotion as well as it was in the power of any
mortal to do. Clapping his hands together, and putting a peculiar
emphasis upon the last syllable, he exclaimed "Oh! _Oh!_" Nothing more
could be said. But while enjoying the grandeur of the scene, I wished
that M. was at my side, for my pleasure would have been increased
tenfold by sharing it with her. The summit of the arch is itself a
curiosity. It does not appear to be more than three feet in thickness,
and yet it supports and nourishes several lofty pine trees, whose
weight alone I should think would crush it to atoms. The root of one
of them winds around the outer edge of the rock, as if to support the
source of its existence. But we had not long to indulge our
admiration, for our table was spread under the shade of one of these
immense rocks, and all the sublimity around us could not satisfy the
imperious demands of appetite; so after regaling ourselves on some of
the dainties furnished by our excellent friends at the Sault, we
departed to behold new wonders, and utter repeated exclamations of
_Oh! Oh!_ Turning a point of the rocks, {170} we came in view of those
natural excavations that have excited so much astonishment. It was our
intention to pass through one of them, but the entrance was blocked up
by the falling of an arch, the ruins of which were scattered around.
We were obliged to content ourselves with an outside view; but this
surpassed every thing of the kind I had before seen. We were in a bay
formed by a semi-circle in the rocks. Above us the cliff, at the
height of upwards of a hundred feet, projected far beyond our canoes,
and formed a canopy of the most terrific description. We could not
behold it without a shudder of awe. Upon leaving it we discharged our
gun, and the reverberations were almost deafening. The sound rolled
through these vast ramparts, and seemed to shake them to their
foundations. It was like the groaning of an imprisoned spirit in its
struggle to be free.
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