New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-12-01
NETWORK DAILY TRIBUNE, TUESDAY DECEMBER l, 1887.

gard. There was no one at homo except the
daughter, blooming lass Of tEeoty, whose nsas
dress sud graceful, friendly department after the
bidecus fsmnines Of Hallissd. in their ungirdled
s,cbs and shifts, % charmed US that il we had beea
younger, more sentimental ard LEI. experienced in
such msttefs should not answer for the conse-
querces She usbered us into the gaest's house,
which was nestoess itsef set before a. bottle Of
BAvsrsn beer, and promised to have . supper ready
On our return.
There were eth ten miles 10 the Riuk.n, aad
consequently no time to be lost The valley con-
Nseted, squeezing the Msan between tae interlock
ing b,ses Of the mountains, through which, in the
course of ur cguntd centuries il hsd worn ltself
deep groove, cut ssrsght and clean into the heart
Of the rock. The loud, perpetual roar Of its vexed
waters filled the gIeD-lhe only sound, except the
beasirg Of goats ciueipg to the steep pastures
above us. The mountain walls on either hand were
now 90 high and preciptcus tast the bed Of the val
ley ay wholly in shadow aud on looking back, its
farther foldipgs were dimly seen through purple
mist Only the peak Of the Gousta, which from
this point appeared Is sn entire and perfect pyrs
mid, fifteen hundred feet in perpendicular hight
above the mountain platform from which it rose,
cleaned with rich bronze luster in the setting
sun. The valley was now mere ascending gorge,
along the sides of which our road climbed. Before
Us extended santng shelf, thrust out from the
mountain and afordipg room for few cottages
and fields but oil else Was naked rock and ragged
pine. From one Of the huts we passed, crippled,
distorted form crswled out on its hands aud kaees
to beg Of rs. It was boy Of sixteen, struck with
another and scarcely less terrible form Of leprosy.
In this case, instead Of hidsous swelings and
fungoss excrescences, the limbs gradually dry ap
and drop of piecemeal at the joints. Well may the
victims of 9TH these forms of hopeless dsesse
the hour in which they were begotten. know Of
no mere awful example of that vistaton of the sins
Of the parents upon the children, which almost al
ways attends Confirmed drunkenness, flth asd L.
centiousness.
When We reached the little hamlet on the shelf Of
the mountain, the last rays Of the sun were playing
on the summits above. We had mouotsd about two
thousand feet since leaving the Tind Lake, and the
dusty valley yawned fer beneath US, it's termination
invisible az il Il aiding downward into lower world.
Many rdreds Of feet below the edge Of the wild
nttle platform on which We stood, Numbered the
Masn 10 cleft, the bottom of which tho sun has
oever bebeld. Beyond this the path WAS imprsc
tcable for horses; we walked, climbed or scram-
bled along the side Of the dizzy steep, where In
many places false step would have sent US to the
briuk Of CULTS whose mysteries We had no desire to
explore After we had advanced nearly two miles
in this manner, ascending rapidly all the time,
hollow reverberation and glimpse Of profounder
sbysses ahead revealed the neiehborhood of the
Riuksn. All at once patches Of lurid gloom ap-
pesred through the openings Of the birch thicket we
we're threading, andswe eame abruptly upon the
brink Of the great chssm into which the river falls.
The Riukan lay before us-s miracle Of sprsyey
splebdor, ON sppsrton ST unearthlS loneliness, set
in framework of darkness and terror betting the
jaws Of he'll. Before as, SO high asAinc: the sky a.
70 shut out the coors Of sunset rose the top OF the
vauey-the level of the Hardangsr tsble-And, on
which, abort distance further lies the Mos Wand,
lonely lake, in which the Masn EIv is born. The
river first comes into sight mass Of boiling foam,
shooting around the corner Of line of black cliffs
which are rent for its passage, curves to the right
as il descends, and then drops in single fall Of FIVE
hundred feet into hollow cauldren Of bare, black
rck. The water is already foam q il leaps from
the summit and the successive waves, IS they are
whired into the air and feel the gusts which for
ever revove around the terrible abyss, drop into
beaded ringes in falling, and 90 autterius down like
scsrs of the richest lace. 1t is not water, but the
spirit Of water. The bottom is lost in shifting,
Snowy film, with starry rays Of foam radiatng from
its heart, below which, as the cloud shifts, break
momentary CLEANS Of perfect emerald Light WHAT
fairy bowers Of some Northern Undine are sus-
gested in those sudden flashes of siver and green!
In that dim profound, which human eye can bat
partially explore, 10 which human foot shall never
be set, what secret wonders may still lie hidden
And around this vision Of perfect lovelness rise the
awful walls, wet with spray which never dries, and
crossed By lodges of dazzling turf from the gulf so
far below our feet until, still farther above our
heads, they lift their irregular eornces against the
sky!
/ do not think sm extravssaut when l Say that
the Riukan. Foss is the most beautiful cataract in
the world. / looked upon it with that involuntary
urpeD.ion Of the breath and quickeui1g Of the
pulse, which is tho surest recognition Of Beauty.
The whole scene, with its breadth aud grandeur
Of FORM and its superb gloom of cOloring enshrining
this one glorious fash Of grace aud brightness and
loneliness, is indeEbly impressed upon my mind.
Not alone during that half hour Of fading sunset,
but day after day, and night after night the en-
broidered sprsy-wreaths Of the Rukan are falling
before me.
We turned away reluctantly at last, when the
emerald pavement Of Undine's palace vas no longer