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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
96
The
history
of
this
ravine
will
tell
us
a
great
deal
about
the
carving
of
water.
Once
it
was
nothing
more
than
a
little
furrow
in
the
hillside
down
which
the
rain
found
its
way
in
a
thin
thread-like
stream.
But
by
and
by,
as
the
stream
carried
down
some
of
the
earth,
and
the
furrow
grew
deeper
and
wider,
the
sides
began
to
crumble
when
the
sun
dried
up
the
rain
which
had
soaked
in.
Then
in
winter,
when
the
sides
of
the
hill
were
moist
with
the
autumn
rains,
frost
came
and
turned
the
water
to
ice,
and
so
made
the
cracks
still
larger,
and
the
swollen
steam
rushing
down,
caught
the
loose
pieces
of
rock
and
washed
them
down
into
its
bed.
Here
they
were
rolled
over
and
over,
and
grated
against
each
other,
and
were
ground
away
till
they
became
rounded
pebbles,
such
as
lie
in
the
foreground
of
the
picture
(Fig.
25);
while
the
grit
which
was
rubbed
off
them
was
carried
farther
down
by
the
stream.
And
so
in
time
this
became
a
little
valley,
and
as
the
stream
cut
it
deeper
and
deeper,
there
was
room
to
clamber
along
the
sides
of
it,
and
ferns
and
mosses
began
to
cover
the
naked
stone,
and
small
trees
rooted
themselves
along
the
banks,
and
this
beautiful
little
nook
sprang
up
on
the
hill-side
entirely
by
the
sculpturing
of
water.
Shall
you
not
feel
a
fresh
interest
in
all
the
little
valleys,
ravines,
and
gorges
you
meet
with
in
the
country,
if
you
can
picture
them
being
formed
in
this
way
year
by
year?
There
are
many
curious
differences
in
them
which
you
can
study
for
yourselves.
Some
will
be
smooth,
broad
valleys
and
here
the
rocks
have
been
soft
and
easily
worn,
and
water
trickling
down
the
sides
of
the
first
valley
has
cut
other
channels
so
as
to
make
smaller
valleys
running
across
it.
In
other
places
there
will
be
narrow
ravines,
and
here
the
rocks
have
been
hard,
so
that
they
did
not
wear
away
gradually,
but
broke
off
and
fell
in
blocks,
leaving
high
cliffs
on
each
side.
In
some
places
you
will
come
to
a
beautiful
waterfall,
where
the
water
has
tumbled
over
a
steep
cliff,
and
then
eaten
its
way
back,
just
like
a
saw
cutting
through
a
piece
of
wood.
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