Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-09-24

DesczTfrlos or THg HAWKS NEsr.--A travel
ing correspondent ef The New York Eepress e.ves
the suhioinsd Interesting description OF tie cele-
hrated Hawks Nest 10 Fayette Co., in this
west If The Whiss sulphur lspsiass. which am
surprised Il not more fkmoas for its UNIQUE aud
solitary pictsfs.s xsssss il Is called the Hawks
Neat. and seens q me swell worth journey to
visit as the Natural Bridge, or the Peaks OF Otter
or the Wcir's Care. know nat if can in words
convey an idea uf:ss Pseuiiarities.
The stage cunch stpps early in the morning lat
seyen) ami we stepped aside some ten "r twelve
rods through fhe trees; suddenly we were the
brink Il a prssirice. Eight hundred feet below
us. at a perpendicular descent. was the New ki>-
era branch of the Kanawha. aud from this
height looking like much smaller stream than
it really is: still we conld perceive that it j. rug.
ged and tortuous. and chaled its way along over
rocks and boul, ors- rushing head, ng against
the bank, and then for while eldying arl ioan,-
ing ON the opposite 81 lie; hero forming pod and
looking black and deep and still away down there
and here rejecting the vivid green Of the lofty
hills around. For the stream is by far the least
interesting feature of his view. The great tower
ing peaks Of the Alleghanies that shut it in. aud
descend abruptly to its waters. what constitute
the wildness and grandeur ui the landscape. The
Hawks Nest, the elm on which We stood. is at the
elbow of II gorge, shaped very much like mans
arm bent inward ut an angle of furty five degrees.
looking in either direction, You see tai, noun
tans approaching to within two or three hundred
yards OF each other, while at their fleets rolls the
rapid current. Not house. not sign nt ciyli-
cation or OF man; not clearing: the bluffs are
cry where clad in the thrkest foliage the sum
mits tower up Unnecessarily, aud descend to the
base without bearing one mark that they were
ever looked on by living soul Here and there
but very rarely, great rock lifts its firm up
among the huge trees around and breaks the UNI
iormty of surface hut otherwise. nothing can be
seen but the rounded forms of the mountains en-
closing the narrow de6e, the bright sky above
and the hurrying river that tumhles and winds
through the Jaws of the mountains So far below
The scene is as quiet rs death; the hiiis are too
steep for the sportsman; and. if an orca NAL Wild
buck pushes his anil.rs through the tangled
boughs, or bear makes up for the abstinence Of
his winters sliced we see no signs Of their rude
existence: not even II bird skins along the chn>m
and the fish that that perhaps sporting in the
current, may plaSh aud leap Among its waters
with mpuniiv they are beyond oGr reach: the
rush OF the torrent even arrives not at our cars
much less tile noise If their tiny ganlbolS On
either hand stretches out the same strange suta-
nv view; there are curves and turns in the river
as it forces its way along and the hills turn and
accommodate themselves in all their huge unwicl-
dincss to its petty windings; for about five miles
the eve can follow the contest between the III 'un-
tans and the impatient cpursc. till ut last the
land seems to conquer: apparently the walls OF
of solid green Apr zach, and II they cut MT OF
the entrance the cgres4 Of the river. at least
cut off all sight fr of its further turnin~. TIE
picture is completes everything is in harmony not
tint is out of tone; not paint in the Landscape
The entirety. There just this long, mar
row. crooked mountain path, with imm Use hills
standing abruptly IN or either side, and This '"-t
lest tuIbid stream tearing along at their tre'. NJ
on this continent is grander Mt once and more
beautiful.
For this, one can censnre Tombstone; one can
afford to lie content with all the tolls o IT," mp
proach; one be- sure that Ardennes, where
Touchstone sojourned, contained 80 spot like the
Hawks Nest. even the crown would not haye
deca, ed :'"Whcn was at home, was in bet
ter place"