After breakfast and a
SIESTA, we sallied out to try and explore the head of the cataract
above us. After rather a perilous ascent over loose moss and mould,
and clutching at roots of shrubs and trees, we were brought to a
stand by a huge mass of perpendicular rock, which effectually barred
us from the spot through which the water took its final leap. The
upper course of the torrent, however, amply repaid us for our labour,
for it ran through the most lovely dell I ever saw; and as it bounded
down from rock to rock, and roared and splashed along, it seemed to
know what there was before it, and to be rejoicing at the prospect
of its mighty jump. Torrent as it seemed, it was evidently nothing
to what it could swell to when in a rage, for here and there, far
out of its present reach, and scattered all about, were torn and
tattered corpses of forest trees, which had evidently been sucked up
and carried along until some rock more abrupt than its neighbours,
had brought them to a stand and left them, bleached and rotting, in
the summer's sun.
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