by the pass preventing a view across from either side; and when this is the case, one is obliged to lie down while the other crawls over his body." There are many other curious passes in the Highlands, but it would take too much space to give detailed descriptions of them.

CONTINENTAL ROCKS.

THE Risenberg, or Giant's Castle in Franconia, "is a rock of most stupendous height, and the number of recesses, windows, arches, rooms, &c., in its interior is truly astonishing. But the attention is forcibly struck with a most singular freak of nature, the form of a human being of gigantic dimensions, in the rocky roof of one of the halls; the head, limbs, and ribs are distinctly developed. The castle derives its name from this figure."

At Hirniskretschen in Bohemia, there is what is called the Prebischethor. This extraordinary caprice of nature has all the appearance of a triumphal arch of the most colossal proportions; and, being situated in the midst of the wildest scenery, forms, as it were, a frame to the immense picture seen through it in the distance. The top of the arch is upwards of 1400 feet above the level of the sea. Nearly adjoining, there is also an isolated rock in the shape of a cone, and an inaccessible chasm 1200 feet in depth.

In Silesia, at Audersbach, is an extraordinary labyrinth of rocks, four leagues in length, and two in breadth. These rocks are entirely composed of sandstone, and at first sight they look like a city of gigantic architecture in ruins, for we can literally walk through

the interior of the labyrinth as we would in the squares and streets of a town, and it hardly requires a stretch of the imagination to say that we see dismantled towers, triumphal arches, dilapidated fortifications, &c. Tradition has baptized many of these masses of rock with the most fanciful appellations: here we have the statues of burgomasters and soldiers, there friars and nuns, and in another place the emperor's throne. One of the loftiest of these rocks, termed the watchtower, is, I should think, between 400 and 500 feet high, but its circumference is not more than that of the object from which it borrows its appellation. Another of nearly equal altitude, which goes under the name of the Zuckerhut (sugar-loaf,) is, in form, an inverted cone, and being isolated, and at some distance from all the rest, has a most singular appearance."

At Golling, in the Tyrol, the river Salza forces its passage through ravines and mountain defiles. In one place, "the stream has perforated the rock in its descent, and falls in a sort of curtain over the lower part of it into the channel at the foot. Over these falls, and about half-way up the mountains, there is a splendid arch or natural bridge."

At Virginia in North America, over a small stream, in the upper part of the great Valley of Shenandoah, is a splendid natural curiosity, called the Rock Bridge. "It is a noble arch of one solid mass of stone, somewhat curved in its highest part, and almost like the work of man. The same native rock forms on each side the supports of this enormous arch, which is said to be about eighty feet wide near the top; at the level of the water the width is only forty feet. The whole height from the outer top of the arch to the water, is

about 210 feet, as ascertained by admeasurement with a string and a stone at the end; the vertical thickness of the arch is probably about thirty-feet. The stream which runs beneath, though inconsiderable, adds to the general effect. Drops of water filter through the limestone, and fall in quick succession from the arch, and, by the time occupied in their descent, their increasing velocity, and their full bright appearance, serve in some degree to give a measure of the height from which they fall, and increase the beauty of the scene." There is another natural bridge in Virginia, in Scot country, which is said to be above 340 feet high.

some im

Mr. Fortune, in his Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China, mentions that he met with " mense blocks of stone (granite), supported naturally on the tops of the hills in the strangest manner, which are objects of great interest to the traveller. One, in particular, appears as if some giant arm had raised it to its present position, and left it there solely to astonish the beholder in after ages, and leave him to wonder not only how it came there, but how it could remain in its present position, and, most assuredly, a very small quantity of gunpowder exploded below it, would hurl it from the hill into the plain beneath.”

SAND HILLS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

MR. ANGAS describes the sand hills or drives near the river Coorong in South Australia as being of immense height, and presenting the barren mountains. In one place, he "a vast chasm, resembling an extinct

appearance of says, there is crater, which

G

rent these sandy heights, surrounded by masses of sandstone and projecting rocks. In every direction were seen hollow tubes of sand, cemented by moisture and lime, rising perpendicularly, and varying in height from two to twelve inches; appearing as though they had originally been formed by a gathering of lime and sand around sticks, which having decayed, had left the hollow tubes." A granite ridge, near this, creeps up in a series of fungus-like rocks; but no other granite is found along the coast. In another place were found some limestone hills perforated by the burrows of the Wombats.

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CHAPTER III.

VOLCANOES.

IF burning mountains were not so common, they would be considered almost as miracles; but, like everything else, being frequently met with, they are comparatively little regarded. Various theories have been started to account for these phenomena, which seem to spring from some internal fire in the bowels of the earth, which occasionally breaks forth and discharges fire and smoke, together with a stream of melted stone and ashes, over the surrounding country. There are numerous volcanoes in various parts of the world, but as those of Europe are best known, a short account of them will be first given.

MOUNT ETNA.

THIS mountain stands on the eastern part of the island of Sicily. It is upwards of 10,000 feet high, and its summit is covered with snow, in the centre of which rises a little mountain about a quarter of a mile perpendicular, the sides of which are very steep. The plain or table-land from which this mountain rises, is about nine miles in circumference; and the