Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/304

 disappeared; but the fifth, at the eastern angle of the cliff, has always been rebuilt. The iron arch constructed by the French engineers, at a height of 350 feet above the stream, stands on fragments of masonry of every epoch from the time of Antoninus Pius. Immediately below this bridge the Rummel disappears beneath a rocky arcade, beyond which the cliffs again fall vertically to the bed of the stream, leaving only a solitary pointed arch of remarkably symmetrical shape,

forming a natural bridge over the chasm. Farther down the current ramifies — into three turbulent branches, and at the issue of the gorge plunges in three successive falls into the lower valley. Unfortunately it is impossible to penetrate far into this romantic ravine, owing to the mephitic exhalations rising from the Rummel, which serves as an open sewer to the town.