SAVOY. THIS Country is not less mountainous than that of Switzer land; indeed, its characteristic features consist of bleak and rugged mountains, rocks, precipices, and forests; interspersed with streams, at one time dashing among precipitous ridges of rocks, and forming magnificent cascades; at another, expanding into beautiful sheets, winding slowly through the bottom of a pleasant valley, or losing themselves in the gloom of a forest. THE NUN OF ARPENA. THE river Arve runs for many miles between high, craggy, and inaccessible rocks, which seem as if split on purpose to give its rapid waters a free passage. The surprising echoes and continued sounds occasioned by its streams, &c. are reverberated three, four, and, in some parts, six or seven times, with a noise so deep and wild, as to strike a stranger with terror. The cataracts are, in several places, more or less loud and terrible, as the waters are more or less swollen by the melting snows, which cover the tops of the surrounding mountains. One, in particular, called by the natives the NUN OF ARPENA, falls from a prodigious rock, in a descent of above 1100 feet, with a noise and violence that astound the beholder. FALLS OF CERESOLI AND EVANSON. THE river Oreo, rising in Mount Rosa, and fed by numerous streams from the St. Gothard, Mount Cenis, and some branches of the Apennines, forms, at CERESOLI, a vertical cataract of 2400 feet. The torrent EVANSON, descending from another part of Mount Rosa, exhibits, about half a mile from Vernez, a fall of more than 1200 feet, and rolls down pebbles of quartz, veined with the gold that is occasionally traced in the mountains of Challand. ITALY. CADUTA DELLE MARMORA. THIS cataract is on the Evelino, and receives its name(Marble Cascade) from the mountain down which the river falls being almost wholly of marble. It is situated about three miles from Terni, and is approached by a road partly cut in the side of the mountain, on the edge of a frightful precipice: but on reaching the top, the adventurous explorer is amply rewarded by a view of this stupendous cataract, as it rushes in several streams from the mountain, and is precipitated down a perpendicular height of 300 feet, with a thundering noise. The waters breaking against lateral rocks, cause an ascent of spray and vapour much higher than the summit of the cataract, so that the neighbouring valley receives a perpetual fall of rain. After this descent, the waters rush into the cavities of the rocks, whence they again burst out through several openings, and at length reach the bed of the river. FALL OF TEVERONE. THE river Teverone, anciently the Anio, glides gently through the town of Tivoli, till, reaching the brink of a steep rock, it is precipitated nearly 100 feet down in one mass; and, after boiling up in its narrow channel, it rushes through a chasm of the rock, into a cavern below. At the foot of the cataract, the water, in a succession of ages, has hollowed grottoes of various shapes and sizes, so beautifully picturesque as to baffle all description. Of these, the GROTTO OF NEPTUNE is the most celebrated. Near to it, are three minor cascades, which rush, with a murmuring noise, through the ruins of the villa of Mecanas, down the woody steep which forms the opposite bank of the river, and present to the eye a pleasingly romantic scene. The river Teverone, receives the stream issuing from the LAGO DI BAGNI, formerly the Lacus Albulus. This is a small lake, but remarkable for its floating islets, formed of matted sedge and herbage, with a soil of dust and sand blown from the adjacent country, and cemented by the bitumen and sulphur, with which the water of the lake is impregnated. Some of these islets are forty-five feet long, and will bear five or six people, who, by means of a pole, may move about to different parts of the lake. The water of this lake is of a whitish colour, emitting a sulphureous vapour, and has a petrifying quality. DALMATIA. NEAR the north-eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, in Austrian Daatia, is the village of VELIKA GUBAVIZA, where the river Cettina has a magnificent cataract. The stream is precipitated from a height of above 150 feet, forming a deep majestic sound, which is heightened by the echo reverberated between the naked marble banks. CATARACTS OF BRITAIN. WE now come to the cataracts of our own country; among which are to be found as much of magnificence, and, with the exception of such falls as those of Niagara, little less of stupendous grandeur, than in those of distant parts of the world; though too much neglected, from the prevalent taste for foreign beauties. Commencing with North Britain, our attention is first arrested by a fall on tainous county of Ross, though situated amidst the constant THIS cascade, in the heights of Glen Elchaig, in the mounobscurity of woody hills, is truly sublime. river, one of those natural wonders which distinguish the In the same county, is the grand cataract of the KIRKAG western borders of Ross-shire. Near the old village of Keith, in Banffshire, the river Isla is precipitated over a high rock, and forms a considerable cataract, called the LINN OF KEITH. ROCKY LINN, situate in the narrow vale of Glen Isla, with On the Isla, in Forfarshire, there is a cataract, called the a fall of seventy or eighty feet. THIS cataract, near Loch Ness, is situated in a darksome glen of stupendous depth. It consists of two falls, the Upper and Lower, with an interval of about half a mile between them. At the former, the river Foyers, being confined by steep rocks, precipitates itself, with great velocity, at three leaps, down as many precipices, whose united depth is about 200 feet. Just above the third leap, a stone bridge has been thrown over the ravine; prior to the erection of which, the only passage over this torrent was a rude alpine bridge, consisting of some sticks thrown from rock to rock, and covered with turf. About half a mile lower down the river, is the Lower Fall. The water, after flowing through a narrow, rocky channel, suddenly makes a descent of 212 feet. The appearance of this fall is truly grand, and allowed, by many travellers, to surpass that of any other European cataract, that of Terni, in Italy, only excepted. A dense mist constantly arises from the broken water, and the noise of the fall may be usually heard at a considerable distance. After heavy rains, the scene is beyond measure impressive and terrific in times of comparative drought, the water finds a sufficiently capacious channel through an orifice, nearly arched over by the worn rocks, and quietly spreads, like a long white web, over the precipice. MARINE CATARACT OF LOCH ETIF. THIS loch forms a navigable inlet of the sea, in Argyleshire, and is surrounded with scenery peculiarly romantic. About seven miles from its communication with the ocean, the lake is contracted into a narrow channel, called, in Celtic, Connel, signifying rage or fury; a name well adapted to the place; for a ridge of uneven rocks here stretches across two-thirds of the channel, and occasions, at particular times of the tide, a current flowing with great rapidity; and, when swollen by a spring-tide, it discharges itself, as soon as the ebb begins, with a violence and noise unequalled by the loudest cataract, and which may be heard at the distance of many miles. CASCADES IN ENGLAND. We now enter England, and pause awhile in CUMBERLAND, where are several waterfalls, which, if not remarkable for their stupendous character, are still pleasing for their sublime and picturesque beauties. SCALE FORCE, in the vicinity of Buttermere, and LowDORE WATERFALL, cannot be viewed without admiration: and SOUR MILK FORCE, near the bottom of Buttermere Lake, has a character of grandeur in its fall of 900 feet. In WESTMORELAND, near Great Langdale, are the beautiful cascades of SKELWITH and COLWITH FORCES, amid a romantic cluster of very fine mountains, yielding blue slate. These cascades are rivalled by a remarkable FALL OF THE TEES, On the western side of the county of DURHAM, and border of Westmoreland. The river, obstructed and divided by a perpendicular rock, descends in a double cataract from the top; but, reuniting its waters before they reach the bottom, the whole dashes into the basin below, with a degree of sublime grandeur, scarcely inferior in effect to the cataracts of Switzerland, or even of America. The foam is thrown up to a considerable height, and adds to the wild beauties of the surrounding scenery. Below this fall, the stream, called LANGDON BECK, pours its waters into the Tees. over a rock thirty feet high. In YORKSHIRE (North Riding), are the following cataracts, called Forces, on or near the river Yore, or Ure. HARDROW FORCE, formed by a rivulet, which joins the Yore near Askrigg, and rushes, in a large sheet of water, over a ledge of rocks ninety-nine feet in height. The chasm below the fall is about 900 feet in length, and bounded on each side by huge masses of rock. During severe frosts, the water has formed an immense circle of ninety feet in circumference. WHITFIELD GILL and MILL GILL FORCES are in the same vicinity; a little below which is AYSGARTH FORCE, the finest waterfall in the county. Here the river Yore pours its whole waters over an irregular ridge of rocks. Above the fall, is a bridge, of one arch, with a span of seventyone feet, from which a most romantic view presents itself, comprising a succession of waterfalls, amidst intermingled rocks and foliage, with the steeple of the church emerging from a copse, to give a human interest to all the rest. At Richmond, under the ruined walls of the castle, the river SWALE, forms a pleasing cascade. The vicinity of INGLETON, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is replete with natural curiosities, among which the following are selected, as suitable to our present purpose:YORDAS CAVE, in King's Dale, bordering on Westmoreland, is about 150 feet in length, and contains a subterraneous cascade, surrounded with awfully sublime scenery. At a little distance from Ingleton, is the more celebrated, because larger, CAVE OF WETHERCOT, in which is a cascade, falling from a height of about seventy-five feet. This cave, one of the most surprising natural curiosities in Great Britain, is situated in a low field, and is about 100 feet deep, 180 long, and 90 broad. It is divided into two parts, by a rude grotesque arch of limestone rock. At the south end is an entrance to this abyss, where the astonished visitant beholds a cataract issuing from an immense aperture in the rock, falling seventy-five feet in an unbroken sheet of water, with a deafening noise. The stream disappears among the rocks at the bottom; but, after running about a The cave is filled with the spray of the dashing water, which mile through a subterraneous passage, it again emerges. sometimes produces a small rainbow, of extraordinary brilliancy. One of the most surprising features of this scene is a stone, of enormous magnitude, suspended by its opposite angles, touching the sides of a crevice, over the orifice whence the cascade issues. The river Wease pervades this cavern, and another at Gatekirk, and runs about two miles underground. About a mile to the southward, is DANK CAVE, which resembles the Wethercot, but is on a smaller scale, the fall of its stream being not more than twenty-five or thirty feet. Thornton Scar, about two or three miles from Ingleton, is an immense rocky cliff, rising to the height of 300 feet, and partly clothed with wood. Near this cliff is THORNTON FORCE, a beautiful cataract, rushing from the rocks, with a fall of ninety feet, in one sheet of water, sixteen feet wide. Among the natural curiosities of the WELSH Mountains, the falls of the Cayne and Mawddach, in Merionethshire, cannot fail to attract notice. The former, called by the natives PISTIL-Y-CAYNE, when viewed from below, the only point from which it can be seen with advantage, is very magnificent. A sheet of water pours down a rugged declivity, 200 feet in perpendicular height. The sides of the fall are thickly mantled with woods; and the agitated waters are received, at the bottom of their descent, into vast hollows of the rocks, which their perpetual action has excavated, and from which they boil and force their way to join those of the Mawddach, a little below. When the sun shines upon this fall, it is said to be brilliant beyond conception. The PISTIL-Y-MAWDDACH consists of three distinct falls, all of which are exposed to view at once. The first is about twenty feet wide, and nearly the same in height, falling into a deep pool, thirty feet in diameter. From this it glides over a second ledge, and descends, by a fall of thirty feet, into a second basin, of larger dimensions. It again descends, by a third fall, of about twenty feet in perpendicular height, into the largest and deepest pool, over the brim of which it escapes, and descends, foaming amidst the rocky crags, to join the Cayne. In DEVONSHIRE, a few miles from Tavistock, the river Tamar receives the stream of the Lyd, which is peculiarly remarkable for being pent up by rocks, at the bridge, a little above the confluence, and running so deep beneath, that the water is scarcely to be seen, nor its murmurs heard, by persons above; the bridge being on a level with the road, and the water nearly seventy feet below it. Within a mile of this place is a cataract, where the water falls above a hundred feet. The river passes a mill at some distance above the cataract, and, after a course on a descent of little less than 100 feet from the level of the mill, reaches the brink of the precipice, whence it is precipitated in a most beautiful and picturesque manner, and, striking on a part of the cliff, rushes from it, in a wider cataract, to the bottom; where again falling with considerable violence, it makes a deep and foaming basin in the ground. This fine sheet of water causes the surrounding air at the bottom to be so impregnated with aqueous particles, that visitors find themselves in a mist, and gratify their curiosity at the expense of being wetted to the skin. IRELAND may not improperly be termed an island of natural wonders: its loughs, its bogs, its caverns, its basaltic pillars and volcanic remains, have been repeatedly described; but of its waterfalls, very little notice seems to have been taken. The SALMON LEAP in the Shannon, is spoken of as an interesting cascade; and the cataract at POWERSCOURT, in Wicklow county, is reported to have a fall of 300 feet perpendicular: but particulars are wanting. Succeeding Papers of this series will embrace the subjects of Volcanoes, Caverns, &c. LONDON PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE, BY JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. THE PASSAGE OF THE ISRAELITES THROUGH THE RED SEA. Copied, by permission of the Proprietors, from the Print after Mr. DANEY's Ficture. THE SATURDAY MAGAZINE. PASSAGE OF THE ISRAELITES THROUGH THIS week we present our readers with a cut taken When the children of Israel had completely detached themselves from the dominion of the king of Egypt, the object which, in pursuance of prophecy and the divine command, they had to accomplish, was to march to the borders of that pleasant land-the land of Canaan-which had been promised of old to them, through their great ancestor Abraham. The direct road to Palestine from Rameses, the chief seat of the Hebrews in Egypt, and probably the same as Goshen, was to the north, by the line of the Mediterranean Sea; and the march in this direction, if unopposed, might, probably, have been performed in the course of four or five weeks. But all this district, or, at least, the part of it adjoining the immediate boundary of the Holy Land, was inhabited by a strong and warlike people called Philistines, and we are expressly told by Moses that it was by special direction of God himself, that the Israelites declined the nearest road, and took, instead of it, a turn to the south or southwest, and came to Succoth, which Josephus supposes to be the more modern Latopolis; from Succoth they advanced to Etham, at the extreme northern end of the western branch of the Red Sea. This western branch was called Sinus Horoopolites, by the ancient Greeks and Romans; and by modern nations, the Gulf of Suez. Here they were, as Moses says, on the edge of the Wilderness, or that vast desert which is situated between the rich river-soil of the Delta of Egypt, and the southern parts of Palestine. Here they had, in fact, very nearly headed the gulf, and, if escape from Pharaoh was their immediate care, the Israelites had only to proceed a day's journey right forward, and it would be obvious that the nature of the ground, and the deficiency of water, would effectually check the pursuit of a considerable army, the chief strength of which, we know to have consisted in chariots and cavalry. At this critical juncture, however, God commanded Moses to lead the great host of the Hebrews back again from the onward road, and encamp them farther to the south, on the west or Egyptian side of the Red Sea. The place of such encampment was pointed out before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. It is said that Pi-hahiroth means an opening into the mountains, and the result of much laborious investigation has been that, in fact, the Israelites were thus led into a glen or combe, in which their retreat was rendered difficult by surrounding rocks, and their advance, to all human speculation, absolutely impracticable by the sea in front. Now we are told that JANUARY 5, God gave this remarkable command to Moses, for They are entangled in the land; the wilderness hath that Pharaoh would say of the children of Israel, shut them in. raoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I "And I, the Lord, will harden Phawill be honoured upon Pharaoh and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord." Thus, therefore, the tyranny and falsehood of Pharaoh, and the idolatrous wickedness of the Egyptians, were to undergo the last and finishing act of divine retribution, that retribution to be brought about and signalized by such a marvellous demonstration of the omnipotence of God over the ordinary laws and processes of the material world, as should, for the shippers of birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and lifetime being, strike dumb with astonishment the worless forms of nature, and also should remain in everlasting record, an awful proof of the unsleeping government of the Lord. May we not also surmise that, by this apparently strange direction given to the march, the faith of the leader was intended to be tried; for certainly, under all the circumstances of the and double-dealing of Pharaoh, such a command flight of the Israelites, and the notorious reluctance must have seemed, at first, to Moses, whose practical acquaintance with the country cannot but be pre sumed, almost entirely destructive of his nearly accomplished hopes of the deliverance of his fellowcountrymen. Israelites had good reason, upon human consideraWhat God had foretold, and what Moses and the tions, to apprehend, took place. Pharaoh collected his forces, and followed the track of the escaping host, and came within sight of them, when they were encamped before Pi-hahiroth. Thus, the Israelites were completely hemmed in. Their situation seemed desperate to the multitude; they feared the vengeance of their irritated task-masters, and in the bitterness of their spirits, they thus threw their reproaches upon Moses." Because there were no graves in Egypt," said they to him, " hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, 'Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it had been better for us to have served the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.' said unto the people, "Fear ye not; stand still, and And Moses you to-day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." Upon this, that mysterious pillar-of cloud by The day, and of fire by night-which had hitherto appeared in advance of the Israelites, shifted its position to their rear, and stood up between them and the pursuing Egyptians. Then Moses, by divine command, stretched out his hand over the arm of the sea which ran before the camp, and immediately driven back, and a dry passage appeared throughout, a strong east wind began to blow, the waters were to the other side of the gulf. Along this awful pass, the Hebrews marched during the night, and by the morning light, were all safely arrived at the opposite escape of their imagined victims, and in their blindcoast. The Egyptians had witnessed this wonderful ness and fury, followed them into the miraculous path. But now their appointed hour was come. that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the In the words of the sacred text, "It came to pass, host of the Egyptians, through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot-wheels, that they drave them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, 'Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.' Then the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.' And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hands of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore." sea. Niebuhr, the Danish traveller, thinks the place of the passage was near Suez. At this point, the water is about two miles across, and Niebuhr himself forded it. But he says, that the sea must have been deeper in old time, and extended further towards the north. Burckhardt agrees with Niebuhr; others place it about thirty miles lower down. Still, wherever the passage was effected, the Mosaic account cannot, by any fair interpretation, be explained without miraculous agency. Bruce, the traveller, has well observed, that the doubts of its having been done by miracle do not merit any particular attention to solve them. "This passage," says Bruce," is told us by Scripture to be a miraculous one; and if so, we have nothing to do with natural causes. If we do not believe Moses, we need not believe the transaction at all, seeing that it is from his authority we derive it. If we believe in God, that He 'made' the sea, we must believe He could divide' it, when He sees proper reason: and of that He must be the only judge. It is no greater miracle to divide the Red sea than to divide the river from their forefathers, that once an extraordinary reflux took place, the channel of the gulf became dry, the green bottom appearing, and the whole body of water rolling away in an opposite direction. After the dry land, in the deepest part, had been seen, an extraordinary flood-tide came in, and restored the whole channel to its former state. SPIRIT OF LIFE AND LOVE. THE HYDROMETER AND THE CHINESE THE Hydrometer is an instrument by which the strength of spirit is determined, or rather by which the quantity of water mixed with the spirit is ascertained; and the dependence which may be placed on its accuracy, once gave rise to a curious scene in China. A merchant sold to the purser shown; but not standing in awe of conscience, he afterof a ship a quantity of distilled spirit, according to a sample wards, in the privacy of his store-house, added a quantity of water to each cask. The article having been delivered on board, and tried by the hydrometer, was discovered to be wanting in strength. When the vendor was charged with the fraud, he stoutly denied it; but on the exact quantity or Jordan. If the Etesian wind, blowing from the north- he was confounded; for he knew of no human means water which had been mixed with the spirit being named, west in summer, could keep up the sea as a wall on by which the discovery could have been made, and, tremthe right, or to the south, of fifty feet high; still bling, he confessed his roguery.-If the ingenuity of man the difficulty would remain of building the wall on is thus able to detect the iniquity of a fellow-creature, and the left hand, or to the north. Besides, water stand- to expose his secret practices, how shall we escape the all"who ing in that position for a day must have lost the seeing eye of the Almighty, that omniscient Being, nature of fluid. Whence came that cohesion of par-will make manifest the counsels of the heart?" both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and ticles, which hindered that wall to escape at the sides? This is as great a miracle as that of Moses. If the Etesian winds had done this once, they must have repeated it many a time before and since, from the Were all these difficulties surmounted, what could we do with the pillar of fire?' The answer is, we should not believe it. Why then believe the passage at all? We have no authority for the one, but what is for the other: it is altogether contrary to the ordinary nature of things: and if not a miracle, it must be a fable." same causes. Moses, an eye-witness, expressly declares, that the agency was direct, immediate, and foretold of God; and how can there be any room for explaining this away, without at once denying the veracity of the sacred historian himself? There are on the spot traditions of this memorable event still existing. The wells or fountains in the neighbourhood, are still called by the names of Moses and Pharaoh. "Wherever," says Niebuhr, "you ask an Arab where the Egyptians were drowned, he points to the part of the shore where you are standing. In one bay they pretend to hear, in the roaring of the waters, the wailings of the ghosts of Pharaoh's army;" and Diodorus Siculus, who lived about the commencement of the Christian era, relates a tradition derived by the Ichthyophagi (the people who live on fish,) PAUSE BEFORE YOU FOLLOW EXAMPLE.-A mule, laden with salt, and an ass, laden with wool, went over a brook together. By chance the mule's pack became wetted; the had passed, the mule told his good fortune to the ass, who, salt melted, and his burden became lighter. After they thinking to speed as well, wetted his pack at the next water; but his load became the heavier, and he broke down under it. THE WEEPING WILLOW.-This admired tree is a native of Spain. A few bits of branches were enclosed in a present to Lady Suffolk, who came over with George the Setaken off, and, observing the pieces of sticks appeared as if cond. Mr. Pope was in company when the covering was there was some vegetation in them, he added, "Perhaps they may produce something we have not in England." Under this idea, he planted it in his garden, and it produced the willow-tree which has given birth to so many others. It was felled in November, 1801. THERE is not a nobler sight in the world than an aged Christian; who, having been sifted in the sieve of temptation, stands forth as a confirmer of the assaulted, testifying, from his own trials, the reality of religion; and meeting, by warnings, and directions, and consolations, the cases of all who may be tempted to doubt it.-CECIL. WIT is brushwood: Judgment is timber. The first makes the brightest flame; but the other gives the most lasting heat.-HUNTER. |