Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/39

Rh and uniting to form the Thames. The Yantic derives its principal origin from Gardener's Lake, a fine sheet of water, washing the borders of Bozrah, Montville, and Colchester. Issuing from this lake, and enlarged by a tributary stream from Lebanon, it pursues a winding course to the south-east, affording valuable facilities for mills and manufactories, till it arrives within a mile of its junction with the Shetucket. Then suddenly arrested by a disordered mass of primitive rocks, it is precipitated over a parapet ten or twelve feet high upon another bed of rocks below. There the channel is contracted to a narrow space, and rendered tortuous and dark, by two frowning cliffs, upon either side, one of which, like a perpendicular wall, towers to the height of a hundred feet. Through this chasm, rushes the broken stream. The beetling cliffs, the compressed channel, the confused mass of granite, and the roaring, foaming river, as it struggles through its difficulties into the broad placid basin below, are all striking features of this scene. The surrounding landscape also, is diversified and impressive. It is overlooked on all sides by high hills, and heavy woods. The river has plunged into a dell between high banks, which, as it pursues its way, gradually subside into green and cultivated slopes, upon whose breast many a graceful mansion arises to give a cheerful interest to the region. At the distance of a mile, you see the bridge which spans its mouth, and groups of buildings, forming a part of the contiguous city.