Decaying trunks are heaped in
various parts of the gorge. The pieces of marble that are washed by the
water are of a snow-white, and partially covered with a bright green
water-moss, making a beautiful contrast.
Among the cliffs, strips of earth-beach extend downward, and trees and
large shrubs root themselves in that earth, thus further contrasting the
nakedness of the stone with their green foliage. But the immediate part
where the stream forces its winding passage through the rock is stern,
dark, and mysterious.
Along the road, where it runs beneath a steep, there are high ridges,
covered with trees,--the dew of midnight damping the earth, far towards
midnoon. I observed the shadows of water-insects, as they swam in the
pools of a stream. Looking down a streamlet, I saw a trunk of a tree,
which has been overthrown by the wind, so as to form a bridge, yet
sticking up all its branches, as if it were unwilling to assist anybody
over.
Green leaves, following the eddies of the rivulet, were now borne deep
under water, and now emerged. Great uprooted trees, adhering midway down
a precipice of earth, hung with their tops downward.
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