Independent of this work, in itself so interesting, the scenery is
varied and striking. Upon our right lay the canal, to whose course all
nature had been subdued,--the forest rooted up, the Potomac bestridden
by an aqueduct eighteen hundred feet in length, beds of solid gneiss
hewn out fathoms deep, valleys filled up and ramparted with granite
against the assaults of the near river; everything on this hand was
trimmed and levelled in a workmanlike manner: the labour of man was
evident throughout, and the well-trained water stood still, or moved
onward or backward, as directed by its master.

Close upon our left ran the Potomac, but so changed in character, that
the stranger, who from the Capitol had traced the mazy windings of this
mighty stream, whose deep indents and sluggish current show like a
series of lakes stretching away till lost in distance, suddenly removed
to this point, short of two miles, would hardly credit that the narrow,
noisy mountain stream beside him was the same, the very fountain and
feeder of the inland sea spreading below.

It was now dry, fine weather; no rain had fallen for some time; and the
stream, pent within narrow limits, cowered beneath the wooded heights of
the Virginia shore: but the condition of every unprotected level on our
side spoke awfully of its force, when, backed by supplies from the
mountains, it extends itself abroad, overthrowing trees and banks, and
leaving their huge ruins to mark in undoubted characters the true limit
of its sovereignty.

At this time it was in its most peaceful mood, and went on, now
expanding placidly over an even bed, and now divided before some
stubborn rock-founded islet, chafing as it were at being compelled to
yield to an obstruction it had as yet failed to overcome.

Viewed at all points, the stream conducted by Nature outfaced, in my
eyes, the neighbour work of her children; coursing onward, as it went,
defying the hand of man, and rejoicing in its rude freedom.

About the most savage part of our ride, where the path was a wide
rampart of stone without any parapet, bounded on one hand by the canal
and the overhanging rocks through which it was cut, and on the other, at
a precipitous depth of eighty feet, by the rocky bed of the river, we
were threatened with a hurricane, or other outbreak of the elements, of
the wildest kind.

It had become on a sudden unnaturally sultry: before us a cloud fell
like a huge black curtain, until resting u