The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-06-06

where he placed It. The perspiratior
sfreamed down from every pore, and th,
Jew garments We had retained we're we
through and through before the haIf.wa,
point was reached, and still high al ever
seemingly, the grim cliff to the LEFT tow
ereo above us, the tiny and feeble ant.
creeping up its aide. BY this time, too
We mad become tormented with intoiera
pie thifst our faces were flushed ant
sIn;burned, the tongue clave to the roo
OF the mouth. defyi1g all attempts at ar
ucqlation, and the heart beat so rapidly
and fiercely that it seemed as If the BLOOD
would be forced from the throat and ears
and from the blood.shos eyes and stilI
upward we toiled and groaned. wbi,e.as
II 10 add to our misery the two younp
children of the mist skipped from rocf
TO rock and from bush TO briar singing
like loo pound larks on their Way to thee
| sun.
| We reached the top after q while. and
found the Messss. Excelsior stretched al
ease OH the mossy banks of q little stream
whose waters-oh! ! so greedily drunk
flowed rs sweetly for us in that hour as
did those which gushed forth for the
children of Israel from that other cleft
rock five thousand years ago.
/ AHiVeu al the top, ma learned that
Afford lived on mountain half mile
away, so concluded to try the search first
without him. A rugged walk of few
hundred yards accordingly brought us to
the edge Of the precipice, which we
found TO- be SO rounding that we. scarcely
| knew when we had turned downward.
and only appreciated this fact when.
peerlng through the laurel bushes on it's
verge, We looked out through space TO
j she mountains a1T05 the Taiisy. and
down, down, do,ca, upon, fields and farms
jar below, and almost under footl
turned back with sickening shudde-.
and felt impelled to cling to the trunks
| OF the trees about me in order to resist
the power of those strong invisible hands
OF the spirits OF the air, which seemed
10 be drawing me .irresistibly. over the
verge and down to bloody and cruel
death on the rocks below. was sick to
the soul, and overcome with sensation
akin to intense nausea, as long ais / re-
meined where l. could look over that
brink of destruction.
Alter nearly an hour spent in g rein
search for the creVice in the locality
where we expected TO find it, we at last
came to the unwilling conclusion that we
had been dpped, and were on the point
OF giving up the quest, when one Of the
guides, who had strayea off to some dis.
tance alone, suddenly hailed us with the
cry
HERE TT ISL
a scramble across q little ravine en-
sued; no man taking sny heed to his
way or to his personal safety, aud within
one hundred yards of where we had been
sitting in consultation as to what shonld
be done to Afford when We caught him,
we found @ Foster, the guide, lying fiat on
his face and looking down into an ugly
hole N the mountain sidel The hole
proved to be the crack I had come two
hundred miles TO find, and it extended,
as IL as could be seen, some distance on
either nte, but was covered for the most
part by O igeacherous carpet of dead
of years, and which formed dangerous
trap for the unHary foot passing over it.
Looking into the hole you saw that the
crevice extended downward in G slantinp
direction for few yards and ended in q
vertical one, which, of course, was net
accessible, save to one who miEht Green
atoeygsna the Giant to ;ts edge. Nore of IL
| crept down the slant. A number OF
| stones were rolled into the crack at diff
ferent points, and these disappeared over
the edge in question and fell with thud
upon the bottom or some ledge far out OF
sight below, bus at what varying depths
We could not determine. The crack at
this place was aFout four feet wide, and
this was its greatest width 80 far az we
could ascertain by uncoyering it at inter-
vals. Its length was about one hundred
yards. its position was perhaps forty or
fifty yards from the edge Of the cliff, with
the line of which it nearly corresponded
in direction, and it was Terminated AT
either end by little -avines running back
from the precipico at right angles TO both
precipice and crack. =
The surface of the ground for hundreds
of yards from the bottom of the cliff is
covered with immense boulderH, ranging
10 size from that of an ordinary dwelling
house down to that of barrel. NV
opinion, and all appearances Justify me
III giving it without hesitation, is that
the weight of this portion of the cliff
has caused it to fa!l away from the noun
tain, and the gap will probably widen
gradually as the supporting earth beneatll
the detached portion gives way, until
some day the whole mass will fall out
from Its place and descend with force TO
1.-THE fields below, leaving broad, deep
gap where it now stands. The rock OF
the Cliff and of all the mountain, indeed,
ls Of nature which cracks very easily..
and the face of the cliff, indeed, is fissured
in every direction by thousapds of open
seams. BY. stamping the foot heavily on
the rock below the crack the whole frae.
mens is Jared, and the concnss;on can be
felt at the distance of many yards by
placing, the hand. upon she trunk of a
tree growing upoa.it.S -, 80
The error of supposing that the crack
extends into the mountain was q natural
one, it IS true, but very little Thought or
experience WAS necessary to detect the
true state of affairs, and every one pres.
ent readily assented to the views above
given.
It is only necessary TO repeat what was
aaid in nav tAlavrarn Yesterday. that tha
creyice hes been formed recently, and
nearly q year since the last shock waS
felt under the mountain, and it may be
added that the catastrophe which is pov
anticipatedrto take place on Bald Noun.
tain at any time Sof frequent occurrence
on every mountaipl in the country.
We came down from the height toward
nightfhll by.a more dangerous path than
that ge had climbed, and il for one, could
not but recall on the way the fable of the
mountain in labor. o.. fEcE. s
In one of Edgar Poe's stories he
shows now tTo Sundays can come in one
week, Capt Boutwell, stsus explains it:
IF you establish the city of New York "a
| IA vostr y1riu1a tI1nr;d;oo ay,d A,x.s,,t II,