OCR Text |
Show !!28 TRAVELS THROUGH NORTH AMERIC A ~ aero(., the fifrure from adhering clofdy to one fide, and being 1 ofc.ned from it · bed of earth at the oppofitc one. It fccms as p1:ob~ble, I t!Hnk, 1 h r f {t 011e fonnino- the arch was thus tOJubly plucked t 1at t e mat : o L o . fi f.d rom one 1 e, a11 c1 dt·awn acrofs the fifrure, as that the h1ll t110uld h_a ve rcm<u·u ec. i d:u" u tH· ted "... t tl11· one (:f)Ot from top to bottom, and tlut a paO:age fhould afterwards l1ave been forced through it by water. .The r~ad leading to the bridge nms through a thick wood, and up a hill, h~vmg atce nded which, nearly to the top, you paufc for a moment at findmg a fudden difcontinuance of the tre~s at one £ide; but the amazem nt whi h fills the mind is gn.:at indeed, wl1en, on going a few paces towards the part which appears thus open, you find yourffdf on the brink of a tremendous precipice. You involuntarily dra: back, !hue aroun~, then ar.-a\n come forward t !itti-fy yourfelf that what you harvc feen 1s real, and not the illnfions of fancy. You now .perceive, that y0u are npon the top of the bridge, to the very edge of which, on one fide, you lllay approa ·h with fafety, and look down into the abyfs, b_cing protech:d fi·om falling by a parapet .of fixed rocks. The walls, as 1t were, of the bridg at this fi lc ;uc fo f erpendicular, that a perfon leaning over the pat·apet of ro k might let fitll a plummet from the hand to the very bottom of the chaCm. On the oppofite fide this is not the cafe, nor is ther nny par:tpet; bnt from the edge of the road, which runs over the bridge, is a gradual !lope to the brink of the chafm, upon wbi..:h it is [omewhat dangerous to venture. This flopc is thickly covered with large trees, principally cedars and pines. The oppofite fide was alu) well furnifhed with trees formerly, but all thole that grew ncar th edge of the bridge have be(.;n cut down by different people, fat· the [Jke of fc cing them tumble to the bottom. Before the trees were ddhoy d in this manner, you might have palled over the bridge with ut having had any idea .of being upon it; for the breadth of it is no l<::fs than eighty fe t. The road runs nearly in the middle, and is fr.:q11 entcd daily by waggons. At the di!bnce of a few yards from the bridge, n narrow path appears, winding along the tid ·s of the fifiure, atnidit immenf~ rocks and tree , dovt'll to the bottom of the bridge. H~:re the fiupendous arch appears M A D D I S 0 N 's C A V E. appears in all its glory, and [c ms to touch the very ikics. To behold it without rapture, indcLd, is impoiliblc; and the more c ritically it is cxanained, the more bea utiful and the more furprifing docs it appear. The height of the bridge Lo the top of the par<tpct is two hun lrcd and thirteen feet by admeafuremcnt with a line, the tbickn is of the arch for ty fee t, the fpan of the .ard1 at top nine ty feet, and the di{bncc bet ween th <.: abutlllents at bottom fifty fee t. T he abutments conG O: of a folid ma(s of li ndl..one on either fi de, and, together with the arch, fc em as if th y had been chifd cd out by the h and of art. A fmall il:rcam, called Cedar Creek, running at the bottom of the filTu re, ov er a bed of rocks, add much to the beauty of the fcene. The fi!furc takes a very fudden turn jnil above the bridge, according to the courfe of the ilrcam, fo that when you iland below, and look under the arch, the view is intercepted at the diilance of about fifty y ~ rd s from the bridge. Mr. J cfterfon's ftatement, in h is Notes, that the fiDurc continues fir~ it, terminating with a plca fing view of the N orth Mountains, is quite erroneous. The fides of the cha(in arc thickly covered in every part with tre s, excepting where the huge rocl s of limc- 11one appear. Bdidcs th is view from below, the bridge i'l feen to very g ·~at advantage from a pinnacle of rocks, about fifty feet below the top of the fif[ urc; for here not only the arch is feen in all its beau tv, but the fpccla tor is imprelfed in the moil: forcible manner with ideas of its gr:mdeur, from bcing enabled at the fame time to look down into the profound gulph over which it p<Ifics. About fi fty miles to the northward of the Rock Bt idgc, anJ a]frJ behind the Blue Mountains, there is another very remarkable nat tral curiofity; this is a la rge cavcm, k nown in the neighbourhood by th name of IVbJdifon 's Cave. It is in the heart of a mount1in, a out two h undred fee t high, and which is [o ftcep on one iide, that a perion !l:auding on the top of it, might cafily throw a pebble int the river, which :flows round the bafe; the oppoiitc fide of it is, however, very eafy of a£; ellt, and on this iide the path k. ding to the ilvcrn runs, cxcepting for the lail twenty yards, wh<.::n it fudd-::nly turns S ~don g |