i ii
Zeeland, in the middle latitudes, and in the beft of deafens,
when they may expeCf a quick paffage, and no fevere
cold.
On the 11 th, the fky being clear and ferene promifed
a fair day, which was very much wanted, in order to dry
our fails and linen, as we had not been able to do either
fince our arrival in this bay. We likewife obtained the
ufe of a boat, in order to increafe the number of our ob-
fervations on the productions of nature. We directed our'
courfe to the cove where we had feen the firft canoe of the*
natives, and particularly to a water-fall, which we had
obferved from afar a few days ago, and which had induced
us to call this inlet Cafcade Cove. This water-fall, at the
diftance of a mite and a half,feems to be'but inconfiderable,
on account of its great elevation; but after climbing about
two hundred yards upwards, we obtained a full' profpect of.
it, and found indeed a view of great beauty and grandeur
before us. The firft objefit which ftrikes the beholder, is
a clear column of water, apparently eight or ten. yards in.
circumference, which is projected with great impetuofity
from the perpendicular rock, at the height of one hundred!
yards. Nearly at the fourth part of the whole height,,
this column meeting a part of the fame rock, which now
acquires a little inclination, fpread’s on its broad back into»
a limpid Iheet of about twenty-five yard's in width. Here
its furface is curled, and dalhes upon every little eminence
an its rapid defeent, till it is all collected in a fine bafon about
fixty yards in circuit, included on three fides by the natural
walls of the rocky chafm, and in front by huge mafles of
ftone irregularly piled above each other. Between them
the ftream finds its way, and runs foaming with thegreateft
rapidity along the flope of the hill to the fea. The whole
neighbourhood of the cafcade, to a diftance of an hundred
yards around, is filled with the fteam or watery vapour
formed by the violence of the fall. This mift however was
fo thick, that it penetrated our clothes in a few minutes,
as effectually as a fhower of rain would have done. We
mounted on the higheft ftone before the bafon, and looking
down into it, were ftruclc with the fight of a moft beautiful
rainbow of a perfectly circular form, which was produced
by the meridian rays of the fun refracted in the vapour of
the cafcade. Beyond this circle the reft of the fteam was
tinged with the prifmatic colours, refraCted in an inverted
order. The feenery on the left confifts of fteep, brown
rocks, fringed on the fummits with oyer-hanging fhrubs
and trees ; on the right there is a vaft heap of large ftones,
probably hurried down from the impending mountain’s
brow, by the force of the torrent. From thence ri.fes a
floping bank, about feventy-five yards high, on which a
wall of twenty-five yards perpendicular is plated, crowned
with verdure and fin ubberies. Still farther to the right,
the broken rocks are clothed with moffes, ferns, grades,
P ? and
»771-
AP&U"