[The Malay Archipelago<br> Volume I. (of II.) by Alfred Russell Wallace]@TWC D-Link book
The Malay Archipelago
Volume I. (of II.)

CHAPTER XVI
19/23

In the rocky beds of the streams basalt is almost always found, and it is a step in this rock which forms the cascade already described.

From it the limestone precipices rise abruptly; and in ascending the little stairway along the side of the fall, you step two or three times from one rock on to the other--the limestone dry and rough, being worn by the water and rains into sharp ridges and honeycombed holes--the basalt moist, even, and worn smooth and slippery by the passage of bare-footed pedestrians.

The solubility of the limestone by rain-water is well seen in the little blocks and peaks which rise thickly through the soil of the alluvial plains as you approach the mountains.

They are all skittle-shaped, larger in the middle than at the base, the greatest diameter occurring at the height to which the country is flooded in the wet season, and thence decreasing regularly to the ground.

Many of them overhang considerably, and some of the slenderer pillars appear to stand upon a point.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books