At the distance of some miles from the volcanic mountain, lumps of pumice stone are seen floating down the river Waikato.
In addition to the hot springs may be mentioned those which appear to be constantly boiling, though, in fact, the water remains quite cold. Of this nature is the boiling spring at Peroul, near Montpellier, which is observed to heave, and apparently to boil up very furiously in small bubbles, but the water of which remains perfectly cool. What is called the mud lake of Java is another of these springs, but rising in a quagmire its bubbles are formed of mud, which, as they burst, throw up two or three tons of mud at a time, and immense volumes of dense white smoke.
CHAPTER V. WATERFALLS AND WHIRLPOOLS.
Waterfalls are of various kinds; and the most simple are when a series of sudden declivities occur in the bed of a river. These slight declivities, which are frequent in the rivers of America, are called rapids; and as they generally give additional impetus to the stream, they are reckoned favourable situations for erecting mills. They also form only a slight impediment to navigation. A cataract, on the contrary, stops navigation, as it implies the fall of a whole river down a precipice, where, of course, a boat would be dashed to pieces. When the water falls from rock to rock in a succession of small cataracts it is called a cascade.
One of the noblest cataracts in the world is that at Niagara, in Upper Canada. It has been before mentioned that the five large lakes of Upper Canada are united so as to run one into the other, and in this manner Lake Erie is united to Lake Ontario, the lowest of the five, by the river Niagara. This river, which is extremely rapid, and 1650 feet in width, precipitates itself in its course over a rock, or rather precipice, 160 feet in perpendicular height. The whole river, in its course from one lake to the other, is between thirty and forty miles in length; and about one mile above the falls its banks rise about a hundred feet from the water. At the grand falls the river is three-quarters of a mile broad, and the precipice curves nearly in a semicircle extending in the longest line on the American or eastern side. An island, called Goat Island, divides the cataract into two principal portions, viz. the American fall on the east, and the Horse-shoe fall on the west, or Canada side. A portion of the fall on the American side is cut off by a small island on the precipice; but the rest descends in one body, almost perpendicularly, from a height of 164 feet, and is 1000 feet in width. Both the falls on the American side are crossed by bridges. The Horse-shoe fall is fourteen feet less in height, but surpasses the other much in grandeur. The great body of the water passes the precipice with such force that it forms a curled sheet, which strikes the water below, fifty feet from the base of the precipice, so that visitors can pass behind the sheet of water without being wet. The best view of this cataract is from what is called Table rock; and it is frequently adorned with a rainbow. Sometimes, indeed, three rainbows are seen in the clouds of spray, which rise 100 feet above the precipice.
There are many other falls in North America, the principal of which are the following: the Falls of Montmorency, where the river forms a cataract 250 feet in height, and fifty feet in breadth. These falls are nine miles below Quebec. The falls of the Mississippi, where the river forms a cataract forty feet in height, just above its junction with the Ohio. The height of this cataract is not great, but its effect is striking, from the surrounding country being level, and the river 700 feet in width. The Missouri, at a distance of 500 miles from its sources, descends 360 feet in eighteen miles. There are three principal cataracts, one of eighty-seven, one of forty-seven, and one of twenty-six feet in height. The river is 1000 feet broad, and the whole scene is described as extremely beautiful, and, indeed, only surpassed by the falls of Niagara. The falls of Passaic in New Jersey, though not so well known as the others, are described as being very beautiful, as the river, which is 150 feet wide, falls in one entire sheet into a chasm seventy feet deep.
The falls in South America are remarkable for their grandeur, but perhaps the finest of them all is the cataract of Tequendama on the river Bogota in Columbia. The river rises in a lofty plain, 9000 feet above the level of the sea, and it is precipitated into the lower country through deep ravines, and over steep precipices till at last it plunges into a chasm 600 feet in depth.
The cataracts in Asia are not so well known as those of America, but the finest appears to be that of the river Sharavati, in the Indian province of Canara, which exceeds in beauty and sublimity every waterfall which has been hitherto made known in Europe. "The country around the village of Haliali, about three miles north-west of the fall, presents the richness of a tropical forest, mingled with cultivation. The traveller comes suddenly on the river. 'A few steps more,' says Dr. Christie, 'over huge blocks of granite, bring you to the brink of a fearful chasm, rocky, bare, and black, down into which you look to the depth of 1000 feet.' The bed of the river is one fourth of a mile broad, in a direct line; but the edge of the fall is elliptical, with a sweep of about half-a-mile. The body of water rushes at first for about 300 feet over a slope at an angle of 45°, in a sheet of white foam, and is then precipitated to the depth of 850 feet more, into a black abyss, with a thundering noise. It has, therefore, a depth of 1150 feet. In the rainy season the river appears to be about thirty feet in depth at the fall; in the dry season it is much lower, and is divided into three cascades of varied beauty and astonishing grandeur; but the smaller streams are almost dissipated in vapour before they reach the bottom."
Europe is celebrated for its cataracts. The torrents are seldom of great size, but the rocky beds over which they dash with foam and spray, and the dark glens into which they rush, make them often produce the most awful emotions. In northern Europe, one of the most considerable falls that has yet been discovered is that of the river Luleå, in Swedish Lapland. The river is half a mile in length, and the fall four hundred feet in height. In Norway is the celebrated smoking cataract called the Riukanfoss, which is situated at the extremity of a valley enclosed between lofty mountains. At the distance of about five English miles up this valley, a smoke or vapour is perceived rising up among the wild blackish grey mountains, and which, as it alternately rises and falls, gives the idea of being the smoke rising from some stupendous cauldron. Proceeding farther the traveller arrives at the commencement of the Maristien (Mary's Path), and has a distinct view of the fall, being then opposite to it, at the distance of less than half an English mile. The Maane Elv (river) "precipitates itself down the rocks with a tremendous roar, through a cavity not more than twelve feet wide, having the appearance of a vast quantity of foam, dividing and convulsing in a great variety of forms, as it dashes headlong towards the bed of the river, which to some considerable distance is completely covered with a kind of froth, the vapour of which rises, like smoke, to a considerable height among the adjacent mountains." The height from which the water falls is about 900 feet, and the basin, or reservoir, which receives it is in the form of a wedge between two high mountains, the sides of which are naked, and apparently smooth. In winter the particles of water freeze, and form a curious kind of natural filigree work on the mountain. In Sweden, near Gothenburg, the river Göta falls down a high precipice into a deep pit with a dreadful noise, and such amazing force, that if the rafts of trees which are floated down the river are permitted to fall into them they are generally dashed to pieces by the force with which they are precipitated.
In the Alps there are many celebrated falls, the principal of which are those of Monte Rosa, in the northern boundary of Piedmont. In one of these the river Orco forms a series of cascades, the height of which is estimated at 2400 feet. The torrent Evançon, which descends from another part of the same mountain, falls from a height of 1200 feet. At the Staubbach, in the Canton of Berne in Switzerland, a small stream descends from the height of 1400 feet. Notwithstanding the great height of these falls, they create comparatively trifling sensation, from the narrowness of the streams and the small body of water precipitated. The cataract of Lauffen is not more than 75 feet high, but it is reckoned extremely beautiful, from the great body of water that falls, and from the picturesque manner in which it is broken into spray over the rocks.
The falls of Terni and Tivoli are the most celebrated of Italy. Those at Terni fall down a height of 300 feet into a deep basin, whence the water rebounds with a loud noise, and fills the air with spray. The falls at Tivoli are not natural, the river Anio having been led in an artificial channel for some distance till it reaches the edge of the rock, over which it precipitates itself. "The waters have made for themselves another outlet, and fall through a hole in the hill into a cavern called the Grotto of Neptune, where, as they bound from rock to rock, the sound reverberates through the arched roof of the grotto with a hoarse and almost stunning noise." The principal of these falls is about 100 feet high.
There are many falls in Great Britain, particularly in Scotland. The most celebrated of these are the Falls of the Clyde, and those of Foyers; but the largest is the Fall of Glomach in the county of Ross. At the head of a wild and solitary glen seven miles from the inn at Shealhouse, the river Girsac is precipitated in an unbroken form of more than 300 feet. At the distance of about fifty feet from the bottom, the water strikes on a shelving rock, whence it falls into a dark pool, but when the water is in flood it descends in one unbroken sheet 380 feet in height. The Falls of the Clyde are frequently called the Linns, from a Gaelic word signifying a fall of water. The first of these falls is situated about two miles above Lanark, and it is known by the name of Bonnington Linn. The river here falls over a perpendicular rock about thirty feet high, having approached its brink in a broad sheet as smooth as a mirror, which contrasts strongly with the impetuosity of its fall, which is so great that it makes a noise like thunder, while the water rises up in clouds of foam and spray. About half a mile lower is a second fall called Corra Linn, from the castle of Corra, which stands close to the fall. The castle is now in ruins, but the estate belonging to it is in the possession of Lord Corehouse, who has built a magnificent modern house on the grounds. Corra Linn is eighty four feet in height, and though the fall is divided into three leaps, the break between them is almost imperceptible from the banks. A short distance below Corra Linn is another small fall which is only about three feet and a half high; and about three miles farther down the river is another set of falls called the Stonebyres, at which the river leaps down a succession of three precipices, making together a height of sixty four feet. The Fall of Foyers near Loch Ness, is a vast cataract, which precipitates itself into a darksome glen of stupendous depth. "The water rushes beneath, through a narrow gap between two rocks, and thence precipitating itself more than forty feet lower into the bottom of the chasm, the foam, like a great cloud of smoke, rises and fills the air. The sides of this glen are stupendous precipices, blended with trees overhanging the water, through which, after a short space, the waters discharge themselves into the lake. About half a mile to the south of this fall is another, which passes through a narrow chasm, whose sides it has undermined for a considerable distance. Over the gap is a true alpine bridge, formed of the trunks of trees covered with sods, from the middle of which is an awful view of the water roaring beneath."