We now carefully examined the chasm in which we had passed the night.
Cold shiverings and a burning fever succeeded one another at intervals, while one of my legs was swelled to such a degree, and pained me so acutely, that I half suspected I had been bitten by some venomous reptile, the congenial inhabitant of the chasm from which we had lately emerged.
On they came, and in a moment the burly form of Tom appeared in sight, almost at the verge of the chasm.
George fired,--the shot entered his side,--but, though wounded, he would not retreat, but, with a yell like that of a mad bull, he was leaping right across the chasm into the party.
As it came slowly forth and overhung the
chasm, we saw that it was a very large snake with a peculiar flat, spade-like head.
Duncan seized the favorable moment to spring to the body of Gamut, which he bore within the shelter of the narrow
chasm that protected the sisters.
So much for the increased horrors of the
chasm of Loch Fyne when emptied.
In a line with the mountains the plain is gashed with numerous and dangerous
chasms, from four to ten feet wide, and of great depth.
Whether these
chasms were the dried-up beds of ancient rivers or not they were unable thoroughly to ascertain.
Bottomless vales and boundless floods, And
chasms, and caves, and Titian woods, With forms that no man can discover For the dews that drip all over; Mountains toppling evermore Into seas without a shore; Seas that restlessly aspire, Surging, unto skies of fire; Lakes that endlessly outspread Their lone waters - lone and dead, - Their still waters - still and chilly With the snows of the lolling lily.
But the danger was past--they had landed at last, With their boxes, portmanteaus, and bags: Yet at first sight the crew were not pleased with the view, Which consisted to
chasms and crags.
The mountains looked surpassingly lovely, clad as they were in living, green; ribbed with lava ridges; flecked with white cottages; riven by deep
chasms purple with shade; the great slopes dashed with sunshine and mottled with shadows flung from the drifting squadrons of the sky, and the superb picture fitly crowned by towering peaks whose fronts were swept by the trailing fringes of the clouds.
