Page:The first and last journeys of Thoreau - lately discovered among his unpublished journals and manuscripts.djvu/91

 limestone rock at Shelburne Falls in Dearsfield River, from one foot to four or five feet in diameter, and as many in depth, with smooth and delicately carved brims like goblets. Their origin is apparent to the most careless observer. Some stone which the current has washed down, meeting with obstacles in front, revolves as on a pivot where it lies; gradually sinking, in the course of ages, deeper and deeper into the rock; and in new freshets receiving the assistance of fresh stones drawn into this trap, and doomed to revolve for limitless periods, doing more than Sisyphus-like penance for stony sins, until it wears through the bottom of its prison or is released by some more violent freshet, or some revolution of Nature. In one instance, near the edge of the Fall, they had finally worn quite through the rock, so that a portion of the river leaked through and anticipated the fall.

But the most remarkable instance of this kind is the well-known Basin of the Pemigewasset, in the head waters of this stream, near the Franconia Notch, by the road side, in the town of Lincoln, N. H., where [43]