The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-10-25


Van Wrinkles. It was now noon, on the
10Th Of May, and our eight miles were at an
end.
ON THE BRINK OF NIHILvIDEo.
Nihilyideo. What an impression the
first sight made upon the minds Of my
companions. knew not; Iscarcely knew
what paesed through my own mind. Ten
seconds were as momentous az ten years
among ordinary things. Never before had
such train Of swift visions passed before
me. Never before had beheld such a
manifestation Of awful slblimity, the in
finite and the eternal, and never before
had the frailty Of man and the immensity
OF creation burst upon me as 1t did then.
Like the Austrian geologis., who stood
upon the crest Of the Himalaya mountains
and watched the morning sunshine light
up the glaciers OF the Everlasting Valley" !"
l could only stand mute and let my
thoughts and imaginations whiil whittier
as ever they would. No Language could
paint that panorama. was looking down
into an abyss thousands Of feet deep whose
ragged sides .yawned asunder, hungry to
swallow the world. instiuctiYely shrunk
back. One moment everything was clear,
rocks, crags, shadows, depths, all was yisi-
BILE. The next, the brain grew dizzy,
everything was spinning around, nothing
was seen but the whirl oil fading osjscts,
and the mist OF deluded vision which en-
shrouded everything.
1t surpassed anything Of the kind I had
ever seen. was once In the midst oil q
thunderstorm on one OF the highest peAks
OF the Appalachian mountains. The light
ming in vivid flashes filled the air, and in
quivering tin,s played on the rocks and
pinnacles. The dense clouds hid every
thing else. l thought that this was the
grandest display OF nature possible; but
this N,hilvideo surpasses it-in all that
raise the thoughts TO sense Of the aub.
Unity Of inorganic things.
TAKING BEARINGS.
Gradually, the overwhelmed feelings re.
covered somewhat, and stepped forward
to take more practical view Of what lay
before me. About mile distant, and fully
three thousand feet below me, l saw the
San joaquin river, like narrow band Of
white running along its gorge, between
perpendicular banks thousands OF feet
high. Stephenson creek had originally
plunged over the bank directly into the
river; but the wear OF ages had cut away
the rock half mile back from the rivers
edge, thus forming the deep abyss, which
II was our mission to explore. Along each
aide OF this gorge Is wall oil rock, rising
nearly perpendicular, and very rough In
its formation. This canon extends from
the foot OF the falls to the river, q distance
of-say mile, although 1t may be much
farther. It varies in width from two hun
dred to one thousand feet, in different
parts. Then, in substance, Nihilvldeo Is a
pit 5000 feet long, 500 feet wide, and from
1000 to 5000 feet deep. These calculations
are not founded upon any measurement
at all, except the depth, which l tried To-
estimate from the velocity Of falling bodies,
the velocity OF sound, aud such other crude
data as I had. Mr.. Stephenson calcu.
lated that the pit, from the loot Of the falls
TO the river, was 10000 feet long; but
guessed 1t to be about 6,000.
After hasty survey OF 1t in general, we
began to look for q way to get down into
the abyss. Standing as we were on the
brink, we could not see the waterfall after
It passed over the verge OF the precipice.
But we could hear confusion Of sounds
and echoes coming up out OF the depth.
The bottom was almost constantly hidden
in fog and vapor, especially near the foot Of
the falls, and, at intervals, dense columns
Of mist rolled upward through the opening,
like the smoke Of Q volcano.
We had come, not only to look into the
gulf, but to go into 1t. Wehad expected to
be able to climb down the side, through
cracks and riffs and thus reach the bottom,
But now, with the undertaking in full view,
we began to weaken on the enterprise. 1t
was plainly an impossibility, unless we
would throw ourselves headlong down,
The perpendicular walls Of rock offered no
means Of descent. ThLre were q few jutting
craes, but these would be perious footings,
and one misstep would land US into un.
known worlds. We crept cautiously along
the brink OF the overhanging cliff, to the
eastward, one hundred yards from the
point. where the water goes over. We
amused ourselves relling rocks over the
edge and hearing them strike the bottom.
The time required in falling from our
hands I'LL we heard them strike the first time
was ten seconds. This, allowing one sec
ond for the sound to reach us, was ,296
feet, or thereabout. But when they struck
they were not at the bottom. They weLt
bounding from one cliff to another hun.
drsds Of feet further.
BouLpER's PLUNGE.
We found a boulder, weighing fully four
thousand pounds, on the very brink Of the
cliff, tottering on It's irail support. By a
united effort, we pushed it of. For many
seconds all was silent. We held our breath
and listened for tito strike. We could not
see II, but we knew that It was still falling,
and seconds seemed minutes. At length,
a jarring crash and Thousands Of repeating
echoes announced that II struck terra
firma, The echoes from the sides rolled
back and forth, dying away in rythmic
undulations, almost as regular rs the yib.
rating cords Of o musical instrument.
4 ,sThe owlets started from their dreamf,
The esgiea anlNered with their ScIoanan
And all was still, save the never tiripg fall
/ and dash Of the cataract Passing on SOME
NJ