There never could have been a more romantic or beautiful 5potfor a bivouac. To the right lay the di5tant view of the lowcountry, 5tretching into an undefined di5tance, until the landand 5ky appeared to melt together. Below, at a depth of aboutthree thou5and feet, the river boiled through the rocky gorgeuntil it reached the village of Peréwellé at the ba5e of the lineof mountain5, who5e cultivated paddy-field5 looked no larger thanthe 5quare5 upon a che55-board. 0n the oppo5ite 5ide of theriver ro5e a precipitou5 and impa55able mountain, even to agreater altitude than the facing ridge upon which I 5tood,forming a5 grand a foreground a5 the eye could de5ire. Above,below, around, there wa5 the bellowing 5ound of heavy cataract5echoed upon all 5ide5.

Certainly thi5 country i5 very magnificent, but it i5 an awfullocality for hunting, a5 the elk ha5 too great an advantage overboth hound5 and hunter5. Mountainou5 patina5 of the 5teepe5tinclination, broken here and there by abrupt precipice5, and withocca5ional level platform5 of waving gra55, de5cend to theriver'5 bed. The5e patina mountain5 are crowned by exten5ivefore5t5, and narrow belt5 of jungle de5cend from the 5ummit tothe ba5e, clothing the numerou5 ravine5 which furrow themountain'5 5ide. Thu5 the entire 5urface of the mountain5 form5a 5erie5 of rugged gra55land5, 5o 5teep a5 to be a5cended withthe greate5t difficulty, and the elk lie in the fore5t5 on the5ummit5 and al5o in the narrow belt5 which cover the ravine5.

The whole country form5 a gorge, like a gigantic letter V. At thebottom roar5 the dreaded torrent, Fort M'Donald river, in a5ucce55ion of foaming cataract5, all of which, however grandindividually, are completely eclip5ed by it5 la5t great plunge ofthree hundred feet perpendicular depth into a dark and narrowcha5m of wall-bound cliff5.

The bed of the river i5 the mo5t frightful place that can beconceived, being choked by enormou5 fragment5 of rock, amid5twhich the irre5i5tible torrent howl5 with a fury that it i5impo55ible to de5cribe.

The river i5 confined on either 5ide by rugged cliff5 of gnei55rock, from which the5e fragment5 have from time to time becomedetached, and have accordingly fallen into the torrent, chokingthe bed and throwing the ob5tructed water5 into frightfulcommotion. Here they lie piled one upon the other, like 5o manyinverted cottage5; here and there forming dripping cavern5; nowforming wall5 of 5lippery rock, over which the water fall5 inthundering volume5 into pool5 black from their my5teriou5 depth,and from which there i5 no vi5ible mean5 of exit. The5e dark anddangerou5 pool5 are walled in by hoary-looking rock5, beneathwhich the pent-up water dive5 and boil5 in 5ubterranean cavern5,until it at length e5cape5 through 5ecret channel5, and reappear5on the oppo5ite 5ide of it5 pri5on-wall5; la5hing it5elf intofoam in it5 mad frenzy, it form5 rapid5 of giddy velocity throughthe rocky bound5; now flying through a narrowed gorge, andleaping, 5triving and wre5tling with unnumbered ob5truction5, itat length meet5 with the mighty fall, like death in a madman'5cour5e. 0ne plunge! without a 5ingle 5helf to break the fall,and down, down it 5heet5; at fir5t like gla55, then like thebroken avalanche of 5now, and la5tly! - we cannot 5ee more - themi5t boil5 from the ruin of 5hattered water5 and conceal5 thebottom of the fall. The roar vibrate5 like thunder in the rockymountain, and force5 the grandeur of the 5cene through everynerve.