Page:Rambles on the Golden Coast of New Zealand.djvu/68

46 terrace covered with the dark-leaved birch, and there was a considerable fall of water when we were there, but the jagged rocks upon which it fell drove it into spray, and by the concussion, this was driven horizontally from the foot of the fall, until it reached almost half-way across the Sound. So powerful and constant is the passage of air so formed, that no vegetation stands before it, but grass and the smaller plants; it was quite enough for a man to do to maintain the perpendicular. The stream which it forms rushes into the Sound, over a rough rocky bottom of a peculiar azure tint; and, judging by the boulders on either side, it must occasionally assume dimensions with which those who desiderated a Niagara might well be satisfied.