floods," the moon in placid beauty shed her soft influence upon the
mind, and mitigated the horrors of the scene. The thunders which
bellowed from the abyss, and the loveliness of the falling element,
which glittered like molten silver in the moonlight, seemed to complete
in absolute perfection the rare union of the beautiful with the
sublime....

While reflecting upon the inadequacy of language to express the feelings
I experienced, or to describe the wonders which I surveyed, an American
gentleman, to my great amusement, tapped me on the shoulder, and
"guessed" that it was "_pretty droll!_" It was difficult to avoid
laughing in his face; yet I could not help envying him his vocabulary,
which had so eloquently released me from my dilemma....

Though earnestly dissuaded from the undertaking, I had determined to
employ the first fine morning in visiting the cavern beneath the fall.
The guide recommended my companion and myself to set out as early as six
o'clock, that we might have the advantage of the morning sun upon the
waters. We came to the guide's house at the appointed hour, and
disencumbered ourselves of such garments as we did not wish to have
wetted; descending the circular ladder, we followed the course of the
path running along the top of the _debris_ of the precipice, which I
have already described. Having pursued this track for about eighty
yards, in the course of which we were completely drenched, we found
ourselves close to the cataract. Although enveloped in a cloud of spray,
we could distinguish without difficulty the direction of our path, and
the nature of the cavern we were about to enter. Our guide warned us of
the difficulty in respiration which we should encounter from the spray,
and recommended us to look with exclusive attention to the security of
our footing. Thus warned, we pushed forward, blown about and buffeted by