when the spar which resembles the candle, and seems to be set into a socket, runs up about two feet. As if to make the copy more exact, and the resemblance more palpably striking, the candlesticks seem to be of a dusky or bronze color, and the candle or spar arising from it of a clear white. The crystallization on the walls of this room is in beautiful waves and folds, resembling drapery. At one end of the room, a large spar, resembling a bed-post, stood in beautiful relief from the wall, and large folds and waves of drapery, resembling curtains, seemed to hide the rest of the bed.

Here, then, our admiration and astonishment were at their height. Our feelings had been wrought up to a degree of almost painful intensity. Here we stood, hundreds of feet beneath the surface of the earth, and a full half-mile from the first entrance, treading upon a spot and breathing an atmosphere which had not been disturbed since the creation of the world. A place in which the human voice had never before been heard, and on whose beauties the human eye had never rested. There was, in truth, an awful sublimity in the state of our feelings, superinduced not only by what we saw, but in part, perhaps, by a contingent danger to which we were exposed. The falling of the arch, or the rolling of a single rock into some of the narrow passages which we had to retrace, would have shut us up in eternal darkness in this mysterious region of wonders.

Powell's Fort Valley, on the line of this and Shenandoah county, derives its name, says tradition, from an Englishman named Powell, who in early times discovered a silver mine in the West Fort mountain, and commenced coining money, and when attempts were made to arrest him, sought shelter in the fastnesses of the mountain. Kercheval says:

The grandeur and sublimity of this extraordinary work of nature, consist in its tremendous height and singular formation. On entering the mouth of the fort, we are struck with the awful height of the mountains on each side, probably not less than a thousand feet. Through a very narrow passage, a bold and beautiful stream of water rushes, called Passage creek, which a short distance below works several fine merchant mills. After travelling two or three miles, the valley gradually widens, and for upwards of twenty miles furnishes arable land, and affords settlements for eighty or ninety families, several of whom own very valuable farms. The two mountains run parallel about 24 or 25 miles, and are called the East and West Fort mountains, and then are merged into one, anciently called Mesinetto, now Masinutton mountain. The Masinutton. mountain continues its course about 35 or 36 miles southerly, and abruptly terminates nearly opposite Keisletown, in the county of Rockingham. This range of mountains divides the two great branches of the Shenandoah River, called the South and North forks. This mountain, upon the whole, presents to the eye something of the shape of the letter Y, or perhaps more the shape of the houns and tongue of a wagon.

A few miles above Luray, [says Kercheval,] on the west side of the river, there are three large Indian graves, ranged nearly side by side, thirty or forty feet in length, twelve or fourteen feet wide, and five or six feet high around them, in a circular form, are a number of single graves. The whole covers an area of little less than a quarter of an acre. They present to the eye a very ancient appearance, and are covered over with pine and other forest growth. The excavation of the ground around them is plainly to be seen. The three first-mentioned graves are in oblong form, probably contain many hundreds of human bodies, and were doubtless the work of ages.

PATRICK.

PATRICK was taken from Henry in 1791. It is 25 miles long, with a mean width of 20; it is watered by the Dan and its branches. The face of the country is broken, and it has the Alleghany on its western boundary, and the Bull and other mountains

running across it from E. to w. There is a great diversity of soil; the bottom land on the water-courses is generally of a good quality, and a large portion of the upland, though rocky, is strong. On the south side of Bull mountain the staple is tobacco, and the land there is cultivated by slaves. Some portions of the county are very thinly settled; but latterly there has been some emigration into it, the land being very cheap. Iron ore abounds. Pop. in 1840, whites 6,087, slaves 1,842, free colored 103; total, 8,042. Taylorsville, or Patrick C. H., on Mayo River, 226 miles southeasterly from Richmond, contains 40 or 50 dwellings.

The natural scenery in the mountainous section of this county is wild and romantic. A late publication thus describes the passage of the Dan down the Alleghany, and "the Bursted Rock:"

The scenery presented by the passage of Dan River down the mountain, and into the flat country, is awful and sublime in the highest degree. The river rises in a plain, traverses it for 8 or 10 miles, till it reaches the declivity of the mountain, dashes down it by a rapid succession of perpendicular falls, and winds its solitary way, unapproached by any footstep save that of the mountain hunter, and hemmed in on every side by immense mountains, descending almost perpendicularly to the water's edge for the distance of several miles, before its banks afford room for settlements. The Pinnacles of Dan are found in this interval. To approach them you must ascend the mountain at some convenient gap-upon reaching the top of the mountain, the country becomes comparatively level. The visitor goes along the top under the guidance of some mountaineer, who knows the locality of the pinnacles; he meets with no obstruction except fallen logs, and a most luxuriant growth of weeds, till suddenly, he reaches the declivity of the mountain. An immense basin presents itself to his view, surrounded by lofty mountains, almost perpendicular, of which the ridge on which he stands forms a boundary. The depth of the basin is beyond his view, and appears to him to be incalculable. From the midst of the basin two pinnacles, in the shape of a sugar loaf, rise to a level with the surrounding mountains, and of course with the beholder. They appear to be masses of rock rudely piled on each other, with barely soil enough in the crevices to nourish a few bushes. There is no visible outlet to the basin, the narrow chasm through which the river makes its escape being out of view. If the visitor wishes to ascend the main pinnacle, (one being much larger than the other,) he descends from his station the face of the mountain, which is very steep, to a distance which he imagines sufficient to carry him down the highest mountain,-when he reaches a narrow ridge or pass-way not more than thirty feet wide, connecting, at the distance of thirty or forty yards, the pinnacle to the main mountain,-and to his astonishment the river appears at an incalculable distance below him. The ascent of the pinnacle then commences, and an arduous and somewhat perilous one it is. A narrow pathway winds up among the rocks, and in many places the adventurous climber has to pull himself up a perpendicular ascent of five or six feet by the bushes. When he reaches the top, however, he is amply repaid for his labor in ascending. The prospect, though necessarily a limited one, is picturesque and sublime in a high degree. The view of the basin is then complete. The mountains surrounding it nearly of a uniform height; no outlet visible, and the beholder perched upon the summit of an immense natural pyramid in the centre. The river is seen occasionally as it winds around the base of the pinnacle. It attempts to pass on the west side, where the narrow ridge by which the visitor approaches arrests its course; it then winds entirely round the pinnacle close to its base, until it comes to the opposite or southern side of the narrow ridge, passing between the two pinnacles: it then passes round the western and southern side of the smaller pinnacle, and makes its escape as it best can from its apparently hopeless imprisonment. The summit of the pinnacle is about twenty or thirty feet square,-and strange to relate, small bushes of the aspen grow upon it--which is found nowhere else growing wild in this section of country. The echo produced is somewhat remarkable. If a gun be fired off on the top of the pinnacle, you hear nothing for several seconds, when suddenly, in the direction of the narrow pass through which the river flows, a rushing sound is heard, which, although not a correct echo, seems to be the sound of the report escaping through the pass.

The other natural curiosity to which reference has been made, is "the Bursted Rock," which is not very far from the pinnacles, and forms a part of the frowning and sublime scenery which overhangs the Dan, in its passage through the mountain. You approach it as you do the pinnacle along the level top of the mountain, till suddenly your course is arrested by a perpendicular descent of many hundred feet. The face of the precipice is a smooth rock. Far below every thing appears in ruins-rocks piled on rocks, the timber swept from the earth; and every appearance indicates that a considerable portion of the mountain has been, by some great convulsion of nature, riven and torn from the rest, and precipitated into the valley, or rather chasm below.

PENDLETON.

PENDLETON was formed in 1788, from Augusta, Hardy, and Rockingham, and named from Edmund Pendleton, president of the Virginia convention of 1775. It is 45 miles long, with a mean width of 22 miles. The country is extremely mountainous, and is watered by some of the head branches of the Potomac and the James: the level of arable land from whence flow these streams, it is estimated must exceed 2,000 feet above the ocean. Over one hundred thousand pounds of maple sugar are annually produced. Pop. in 1840, whites 6,445, slaves 462, free colored 33; total, 6,940.

Franklin, the county-seat, is 171 miles Nw. of Richmond, near the centre of the county, on the south branch of the Potomac ; and contains about 40 dwellings.

Twelve miles northeast of Franklin, on the south fork of the south branch of the Potomac, stood Seybert's fort, in the early settlement of the country.

In this fort, in the year 1758, (says Withers,) the inhabitants of what was then called the "Upper Tract," all sought shelter from the tempest of savage ferocity; and at the time the Indians appeared before it, there were contained within its walls between thirty and forty persons of both sexes and of different ages. Among them was Mr. Dyer (the father of Col. Dyer, now of Pendleton) and his family. On the morning of the fatal day, Col. Dyer and his sister left the fort for the accomplishment of some object, and although no Indians had been seen there for some time, yet did they not proceed far, before they came in view of a party of forty or fifty Shawnees, going directly towards the fort. Alarmed for their own safety, as well as for the safety of their friends, the brother and sister endeavored by a hasty flight to reach the gate and gain admittance into the garrison; but before they could effect this, they were overtaken and made captives.

The Indians rushed immediately to the fort and commenced a furious assault on it. Capt. Seybert prevailed (not without much opposition) on the besieged to forbear firing until he should endeavor to negotiate with, and buy off the enemy. With this view, and under the protection of a flag, he went out, and soon succeeded in making the wished-for arrangement. When he returned, the gates were thrown open, and the enemy admitted.

No sooner had the money and other articles stipulated to be given, been handed over to the Indians, than a most bloody tragedy was begun to be acted. Arranging the inmates of the fort in two rows, with a space of about ten feet between them, two Indians were selected, who, taking each his station at the head of a row, with their tomahawks most cruelly murdered almost every white person in the fort; some few, whom caprice or some other cause induced them to spare, were carried into captivity. Such articles as could be well carried away were taken off by the Indians; the remainder was consumed, with the fort, by fire.

From Mr. Samuel Kercheval, the author of the "History of the

Valley," we have obtained the following additional facts relating to the attack on this fort:

The Indians were commanded by the blood-thirsty chief Killbuck. Seybert's son, lad of about fifteen, exhibited great firmness and bravery. He had shot two of the assailants, when their chief called out in English, that if they surrendered, their lives should be spared. At that instant young Seybert was in the act of aiming his rifle at Killbuck, when his father seized it from him, observing, "We cannot defend the fort; we must surrender to save our lives!" confiding in the faithless promises of Killbuck. The first salutation he received after surrendering, was a stroke in the mouth from the monster Killbuck with the pipe end of his tomahawk, dislocating the old man's teeth; immediately after which he was massacred with the other victims. Young Seybert was taken off with the other prisoners. He told Killbuck that he had raised his gun to kill him, but his father had wrested it from him. The savage laughed and replied, "You little rascal, if you had killed me you would have saved the fort; for had I fallen, my warriors would have immediately fled, and given up the siege in despair."

PITTSYLVANIA.

PITTSYLVANIA was formed in 1767, from Halifax.

It is 35 miles

long and 26 broad. It is watered by the Staunton on the N., the Dan on its s., and Banister River in the centre. Much of the soil is excellent, and produces annually over six millions of pounds of tobacco, besides heavy crops of grain. Pop. in 1840, whites 14,283, slaves 11,558, free colored 557; total, 26,398.

Competition, the seat of justice for the county, is situated on a branch of Banister River, 162 miles southwesterly from Richmond. The surrounding country is healthy and fertile, and the town itself contains a population of about 300. Danville is a large village on the Dan River, 5 miles from the North Carolina line, and 15 south of Competition. It was established by law in 1793, on the land of "John Barnett, adjoining Winn's Falls." By the provisions of the act, Thomas Tunstale, Matthew Clay, William Harrison, John Wilson, Thomas Fearne, George Adams, Thomas Worsham, Robert Payne, James Dix, John Southerland, John Call, and Thomas Smith, were appointed trustees to lay off the town into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets. Danville contains 7 mercantile stores, 2 tobacco inspections and warehouses, 4 tobacco factories, 2 banks, 1 male, 1 public, and 1 private female academy, 1 oil, 2 flour, and 2 saw-mills, 2 iron foundries, 1 newspaper printing-office, 18 mechanic shops, 1 Presbyterian, 1 Baptist, 1 Episcopal, and 1 Methodist church, and a population of about 1500. The canal of the Roanoke Company, around the falls of the Dan River, is about one mile long, which affords eligible sites for manufactories to almost any extent, with abundance of water-power at all seasons. The river is navigable

for batteaux carrying from 7,000 to 10,000 pounds, as far up as Madison, in North Carolina, 40 miles distant. With some slight improvements, the river is supposed to be susceptible of steamboat navigation to the town.

POCAHONTAS.

POCAHONTAS was formed in 1821, from Bath, Pendleton, and Randolph, and named from the Indian princess: its mean length is 40 and mean width 18 miles. Cheat, Gauley, and Greenbrier Rivers rise in the county, which is one of the most elevated in Virginia. The surface is very broken and mountainous; the southern part is tolerably productive, but towards the northeast the land is more barren. Pop. in 1840, whites 2,684, slaves 219, free colored 19; total, 2,922.

Huntersville, the county-seat, is 190 miles NW. of Richmond, between Greenbrier and Alleghany mountains, on Knapp's creek, 6 miles from its junction with Greenbrier River, and at an elevation of over 1800 feet above the Atlantic. It contains an incorporated academy, 2 or 3 religious societies, and about 30 dwellings. "Eighteen miles from Huntersville, on Elk Ridge, a very high mountain, is a circular hole of about 70 feet diameter, which is considered a curiosity, its waters being perfectly black and of a bituminous taste: it is called 'the black hole.' It is said if wooden poles are thrust in, they will sink to rise no more."

POWHATAN.

POWHATAN was formed in 1777, from Cumberland. Its greatest length is 25, and its greatest width 15 miles. The soil is various; much, however, is fertile. The James and Appomattox-bounding two sides of the county at full length-with their numerous branches afford much fertile low ground. Claver and plaster have been much used in agriculture within a few years. There are some coal-mines in the county, but the distance to market has prevented their being worked advantageously. Pop. in 1840, whites 2,432, slaves 5,129, free colored 363; total, 7,924. Scottville, or Powhatan C, H., lies in the central part of the county, 32 miles w. of Richmond, and contains about 20 dwellings. It was named from Gen. Chas. Scott, a distinguished officer of the revolution, and afterwards governor of Kentucky. A traveller who was here in 1981, says that it then consisted of "only two mean huts, one for the purpose of holding the sessions, the other by way of public house." Smithsville and Jefferson contain each a few dwellings.

In the lower end of this county, about 3 miles from Manakin Town Ferry, on James River, and 17 miles above Richmond, in a healthy and pleasant locality, is Howard's Spring. The waters are something of the character of those of the White Sulphur of Greenbrier, although not so thoroughly impregnated. From its favorable location, it is hoped that this spring will ere long be opened as a watering-place; in which case, it will doubtless secure public favor. It has long been favorably known, and visited with great benefit by invalids of the surrounding country.

This county, near Manakin Town Ferry, was settled by Hugue