taract in
Saxon Switzerland. We therefore hurried round the angle of the rock,
and guided by the sound, came at last to behold what really was a very
fine sight. From a ledge, perhaps thirty or forty feet high, a rivulet
discharged a considerable body of water into a cavern, beneath the
foundations of which, though it was impossible to say in what
direction, the current held its course. I must confess that we stood
and gazed upon the scene for some moments in great admiration,--a
feeling which was probably heightened in consequence of the
unlooked-for issue to an adventure, of the commencement of which we had
augured so unfavourably.

Having thus witnessed the effect, we naturally enough desired to look
upon the cause also; in other words, nothing would content us, except
to ascend the cliff and watch the whole process of lifting and
replacing the sluice. I am not sure that the sight recompensed us for
the labour that was necessary to obtain it. The stream, to be sure,
looked dark and deep, hemmed in as it was, between walls of rock, and
to watch the descent of the mass of water from above, was quite as fine
as to look up to it from below; but the process of climbing was both
toilsome and hazardous, and I do not therefore advise others to undergo
it, unless they be both strong of head and sure of foot.

The waterfall, like the general discharge of fire-works at Vauxhall, or
the blowing-up of the beleaguered fortress in a melo-drama, was the
last and greatest wonder which our guide had to show us, and the
termination of the play was marked by the usual application for a
little drinkgelt. This we gave, of course; but having heard something
of a wonderful echo, we begged him at the same time to conduct us to
the spot where it was to be heard. We were drawing, in this instance,
too much either upon his goodnature or his powers. The echo was not in
his department. A separate functionary called that forth at will, and
to his care we were transferred. He was an old man, who played
wretchedly on the French horn and clarionet, both of which, as well as
a double-barrelled gun, were called into operation, and there is no
denying that the effect was fine. Four reverberations followed each
blast; all of them clear and distinct, as if four separate instruments
had spoken. The last sounded like the voice of a trumpet, issuing from
some dark woods, perhaps five or six miles distant.

Such were the wonders which we saw and heard at A