Although this mountain forms a part of the dividing line which has been mentioned, it does not exclusively so: for the Rackoon mountain, which crosses the Tennessee river, at the place so well known by the name of "the Suck," and the Look-Out mountain, which terminates abruptly about six miles to the left of" the Suck," form an acute angle with the Cumberland, and are composed of horizontal strata of limestone. Thus, it would appear, the line which divides the two kingdoms of this rock is nearly north and south, inclining, perhaps, a few points to the east and west.

Scenery.

And here I cannot forbear pausing a moment to call your attention to the grand and picturesque scenery which opens to the view of the admiring spectator. The country is still possessed by the aborigines, and the hand of civilization has done but little to soften the wild aspect of nature. The Tennessee river, having concentrated into one mass the nume rous streams it has received in its course of three or four hundred miles, glides through an extended valley with a rapid and overwhelming current, half-a-mile in width. At this place, a group of mountains stand ready to dispute its progress. First, the "Look-Out," an independent range, commencing thirty miles below, presents, opposite the river's course, its bold and rocky termination of two thousand feet. Around its brow is a pallisade of naked rocks, from seventy to one hundred feet. The river flows upon its base, and instantly twines to the right. Passing on for six miles further, it turns again, and is met by the side of the Rackoon mountain. Collecting its strength into a channel of seventy yards, it severs the mountain, and rushes tumultuously through the rocky defile, wafting the trembling navigator at the rate of a mile in two or three minutes. This passage is called "The Suck." The summit of the Look-Out mountain overlooks the whole country. And to those who can be delighted with the view of an interminable forest, penetrated by the windings of a bold river, interspersed with hundreds of verdant prairies, and broken by many ridges and mountains, furnishes, in the month of May, a landscape which yields to few others in extent, variety, or beauty. Even the aborigines have not been insensible to its charms; for in the name which they have given to the LookOut mountain we have a laconic, but very striking description of the scenery. This name, in the Cherokee language, with out the aspirated sounds, is O-tullee-ton-iannâ-tá-kunná-éẽ ; literally, "mountains looking at each other."

I have already remarked that the limestone of this mountain

lies in horizontal strata: one mile east from its base it is inclined. Like the Cumberland, it contains immense rocks of sandstone, but of a coarser grain, verging occasionally into pudding-stone. I was told by a white man, a professed millwright, that among these sandstone-rocks, he knew of many which were suitable for millstones. At the missionary estab lishment, called "Brainerd," eight miles east of the mountain, I saw one of them which was used for this purpose to much advantage. It is composed of fine and large grains of silicious stones, nearly white, and resembling pebbles of white quartz: the texture is firm.

Silicious Minerals, &c.

I will now notice an important fact, applicable to the whole extent of limestone country which has come under my observation. It is its association with a description of minerals, all of which appear to be silicious. To describe them minutely would require several pages. From the time I entered the limestone country till I left it this association was observed. The minerals included in it differ much in their external character. Their size varies from that of rocks to the smallest fragments. Usually they lie loose upon the earth, in angular forms, having the appearance of a stone that has been broken in pieces by the hammer. Sometimes they cover the sides of hills and mountains in such abundance as to prevent or impede vegetation. When the disintegration is minute, they are ser viceable rather than otherwise; and the farmer talks of his "good black," or "white gravel land." It renders this service, I presume, not by decomposition, but by preventing the soil and its manure from being washed away. Indeed, the different varieties of it are generally scattered over the surface, in pieces so small, that, for convenience-sake, the whole may be denominated a silicious gravel.

Sometimes the mineral is imbedded in limestone, in the form of nodules, thus indicating their original connexion with it.

The varieties, so far as I have observed, are quartz, hornstone, flint, jasper, and semi-opal; and several, which to me are non-descripts. Quartz is the most abundant. It is found of different colours; compact, and porous or cellular; of every size; simple and associated with other silicious stones; massive and crystallized. In Augusta and Rockbridge counties in Virginia, beautiful crystals of quartz, of a singular form, are found. They are six-sided prisms, with double acuminations, that is, with six-sided pyramids, mounted on the opposite ends of the prism. A specimen of two such crystals united, you

have received. It was found near Lexington. A eurious variety of the quartz gravel-stone occurs on both sides of Elk river, a few miles above its junction with the Tennessee, in the Alabama territory. As you travel to the west from Huntsville, it appears first in the neighbourhood of Fort Hampton, two miles east of Elk river, and may be seen for ten miles west of that river. The mineral is remarkable for containing a curious petrifaction. Its first appearance is that of a solid screw. On examination, however, you find it is not spiral, but consists of parallel concentric layers. Their diameter varies in different specimens, from that of a pin to half an inch. They stand in the centre of a hollow cylinder, extending its whole length, and occupying about one-third of its dimensions. The stone is sometimes perfectly filled with these forms. The petrifaction I could not have named had you not pronounced it the "Entrochite."

Hornstone, next to quartz, is the most abundant of the silicious minerals associated with limestone. It is very often seen imbedded in rounded masses, both in the inclined and horizontal strata.

Flint is more rare. Several fine specimens were observed on the western declivity of the Look-Out Mountain, but in no instances in large masses or quantities.

Semi-Opal was found in one instance on the dividing ridge, which constitutes the south-western boundary of the lime-stone

strata.

Of the non-descripts you have several specimens. One variety strikes fire with steel, is a milk-white colour, adheres slightly to the tongue, and has no degree of translucency on its edges. As Mr. Kain has furnished you with an interesting detail of particular minerals found in East Tennessee and Western Virginia, I need not recapitulate what he has so well said.

I will conclude this part of the narrative with a brief notice of a few curiosities occurring in the region which has been described.

Caves.

1. It is well known that it furnishes a great number of interesting caves. They are found alike in the inclined and horizontal strata. Some of them are several miles in extent, and afford fine specimens of earthy and alkaline salts.

Wier's cave, in Virginia, has been described by Mr. Kain. I have in my possession a map of its most important apartments, including its whole length, copied from a survey made by Mr. J. Pack, in October, 1806; also the notes of another VOYAGES and TRAVELS, No. 2. Vol. III.

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of

survey made in May, 1816, by the Rev. Conrad Speece, Augusta county, and Mr. Robert Grattan; which, with an explanation, and particular description, I hope to be able to transmit to you at a future time.

From these surveys, it appears that the whole extent of the cave, hitherto discovered, does not exceed eight hundred yards. This was the length stated to me by the guide, when I visited it in August, 1817. I cannot but think there is some mistake in Mr. Kain's remark, that "it is a mile and a half in extent." I spent four hours in examining every accessible part, and by permission of Mr. Henry Bingham, the owner, made a large collection of specimens, which were transmitted for the cabinet of Yale College.

The Natural Bridge.

2. My object in naming this celebrated curiosity, is not to give a new description of it, but merely to furnish a correct account of its dimensions. I visited it in company with the Rev. Mr. Huson, who had previously found its height, by a cord, to be two hundred and ten feet. We now found it, by the quadrant, to be two hundred and eleven feet, and the arch through the centre about forty feet.

Some have attempted to account for this great curiosity, by supposing that a convulsion in nature may have rent the hill' in which it stands asunder, thus forming the deep and narrow defile over which the rocky strata were left, which constitute its magnificent arch. If so, the sides should have corresponding parts. At a distance from the base no such correspondence is perceptible. At the base, the rocks are more or less craggy and irregular. This led me to take the courses and distances of each side. The following was the result:

Eastern side presents 4 angular points. | Western side presents 3 angular points:

The chain used contained 50 links, equal to 33 feet. The distance between the abutments at the north end of their bases is 80 feet, at the south end 66 feet. As they ascend, the distance is greater. These data give the following diagram:

Although considerable resemblance appears at the base, yet as no such correspondence is visible forty feet above it, and the sides for the whole remaining distance to the arch, one hundred and thirty feet, lose their craggy appearance entirely, and present the smooth, irregular surface of the oldest rocks.

The following anecdote will evince the effect which the sight of the natural bridge produced on a servant, who, without having received any definite or adequate ideas of what he was to see, attended his master to this spot,

On the summit of the hill, or from the top of the bridge, the view is not more awful than that which is seen from the brink of a hundred other precipices. The grand prospect is from below. To reach it you must descend the hill by a blind path, which winds through a thicket of trees, and terminates at the instant when the whole bridge, with its broad sides and lofty arch, all of solid rock, appears perfectly in sight. Not one in a thousand can forbear to make an involuntary pause; but the servant, who had hitherto followed his master, without meeting with any thing particularly to arrest his attention, had no sooner arrived at this point, and caught a glance of the object which burst upon his vision, than he fell upon his knees, fixed in wonder and admiration,

A River flowing from a Cave.

3. I will next mention a singular cave, which I do not remember ever to have seen described. It is situated in the Cherokee country, at Nicojack, the north-western angle in the map of Georgia, and is known by the name of the Nicojack cave. It is twenty miles S. W. of the Look-Out mountain, and half-a-mile from the south bank of the Tennessee river. The