27 .N8B5 I s i DESCRIPTIONS OF MAOAEA; SELECTED FROM VARIOUS TRAVELLERS; WITH ORIGINAL ADDITIONS, BY WILLIAM BAMAM. " One only objpct, fiUM eye, cm; and tlioiisht." Sotrrnnv's Majioc. GRAVESEND : PUBLISHED BY THE COMPILER, 6, ELIZABETH PLACE, TRAFALGAR ROAD, WROTHAM ROAD. ^^J 4> ^ ^ PKEFACE. The subject of this volume lias so long attracted the interest and excited the admiration of the lovers of nature, that a formal preface seems almost unnecessary. I shall simply state the principal reason wliich has urged me to publish this book. It is this ; that, although there are already before the public many descriptions of Niagara ; yet (so far as I am aware) there is no work in which are collected the various descriptions, sepa- rately published by those who liave visited this incom- parable Cataract. For the origiiuil suggestion of such a work, and indeed for many of the descriptions here presented, PREFACE. I am indebted to a friend., who, tliough lie has never visited the Falls, has collected a variety of" extracts from the different describers of Niagara. The same friend has kindly enriched my volume with some verses of his own, which, I think, will he much admired by my readers, and which form one of tlie principle articles in the conclusion of the ensuing- pages. CONTENTS. Page Directions to Travellers ...... 9 Niagara Eiver, its Sources, and Islands ... 13 Recollections of a Trip to the Falls of Niagara— By William Barham, Esq. 1-1 The Rapids — Goat Island ...... 21 Niagara — By Charles Dickens, Esq. ..... 26 Description of Niagara — By Mrs. TroUope . . 28 The Falls — Terrapin Bridge and Tower ... 32 Biddle Staircase — -iEolus's Cave ..... 35 Description of Niagara — By J. S. Buckingham, Esq. . 3S Uymn to Niagara ....... 41 Niagara — By Tyrone Power, Esq. .... 46 The Ferry — Canada Views — City of the Falls . . 51 Niagara— By N. P. Willis, Esq 54 Niagara — By James Stuart, Esq. .... 64 Welland Canal — Brock's Monument — Burning Spring 68 Niagara in Winter — By Mrs. Jameson .... 69 Niagara — By Major Hamilton ..... 75 Remarks on Niagara — By T. R. Preston, Esq. . . 82 Remarks of Hennepin, Tonti, Hontan, &c. . . 86 Table-Rock Staircase — Barnett's Museum . . 95 Niagara — By Gr. Heriot, Esq. .... .96 Summer and Winter Scenery — River below the Falls . 102 Niagara — By Charles Joseph Latrobe .... 105 CONTENTS. Page Niagara — By Mrs. L. H. Sigoiiraey . . . . HI Curiosities — Mineral Spring, &(•. . . . . .118 Fails of Niagara — From Ilowison's "Canada "' . . 119 Whirlpool — Devil's Hole — Tuscarora Indians . . 123 Niagara— liy Captain Basil Hall, E.N. . . .126 Battles— Bridges — Places of Resort — Minerals, &c. . 140 The Hermit of the Falls — By Mrs. Sigourney . . 142 Extract from a Letter addressed to IMiss Carpenter of Bristol, England . . . . . . .151 Incidents ......... 152 Village of Niagara Falls — Number of A^isitors . . 157 Niagara — By President Dwiglit .... 162 Niagara — By the Duke de Liancourt . . . 163 Niagara — By Rev. Andrew Reed . . . . 164 Table of Distances 172 Plan of Niagara River and parts adjacent . . . 173 Address to the Niagara River — By Jose Maria Ilereclia 174 Hymn on Niagara — By Thomas Grinfield . . .176 The Genius of Niagara — By the Rev. John C. Lord . 177 Farewell to Niagara — By Mrs. Sigourney . . .179 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. DIRECTIONS TO TRAVELLERS. In these days of rapid travelliug, wlien the most trifling delay is deemed a calamity, a few directions may be neces- sary, to enable you to save time, and view the various points of interest to the best advantage. At the same time we can not help deprecating the mania so prevalent at the present day, of making our excursions for pleasure, mere races against time. No person should come to Niaga,ra, for the first time, and leave the same day ; it is utterly impossible for one to conceive or realize its grandeur or beauty in such a visit — in fact one can hardly endure the bodily fatigue of simply climb- ing up and downthe various staircases, hills, rocks, &c., much less can the mind take in and appreciate the various objects of interest which necessarily present themselves in such quick succession, when endeavouring to see the whole of Niagara in a day. It is a common custom for visitors, on arriving at Niagara, to hasten, immediately upon alighting from their conveyance, to catch a first glimpse at the mighty cataract; and this view may in all probability be one of the least attractive — they feel disappointed — and wonder at the eulogium bestowed by other travellers, who have used more 'time and discretion ; jump into the first car that leaves, and praise the Falls, because every one else does, not because they have witnessed or appreciated its beauties themselves ! 10 BESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Should you arrive on tlu- Ameiican side, j'ou will of course stop at one of the hotels, of which the principal are the Cataract Hotel, kept b}^ P. Whitney & Sons, and the Eagle Hotel, by C. B. Griffen & Co., both of which are excellent houses. After recovering in some measure from the fatigue of your journey, take the street to the right around either of the hotels, and proceed a few rods, to the bridge that leads across the rapids to Bath and Goat Islands; you will stop at the toll-house on Bath Island when jou pass over, record your name in the register, and \\^y twenty-five cents, -which entitles you to visit all the islands, with their appendages, as often as you please during your visit, or for the year, without any additional charge. And, if you choose to cross in a carriage, you pay no more. Proceed next to Goat Island, where you will find guide-boards directing you to all the most interesting places and objects around the island. Follow the gravel-walks at the right, down to the cascade or centre Fall, and cross a narrow bridge to Luna Island, from the farther corner of which 3'ou will have the best and most splendid views of the Falls on the American side. Eetracing your steps to the gravel-walk, proceed next to the Biddle Stair- case ; descend that without fail, as you will there have a mag- nificent and much admired view of the two entire Falls, standing between them, and an opportunity, if the wind be favourable, of passing a considerable distance behind either sheet, with the tremendous flood pouring over you from a lieight of 150 feet. From the foot of the staircase, turn first to the right and go to the Cave of the Winds, under the centre Fall, and in returning, follow the path to the great Crescent Fall. Reaching the top of the island again, proceed to the farther corner, where you will find the Stone Tower, forty-five feet high, with winding steps to the top, and also the Terrapin Bridge, from both which places you will have decidedly the best and most impressive views of the Falls, that can be had from any position. Here you will realize power, grandeur, sublimity, immensity, — no pen or tongue can describe it. DIRECTIONS TO TRAVELLERS. 11 Pursuing your way with a view to go entirely round the island, — as you ought without fail to do, inasmuch as you will thus get a much better view of the rapids and surrounding scenery than can be obtained anywhere else, — you will pro- ceed up to a beautiful cascade, where, under the shelter in part of a projecting rock, you can have an opportunity to bathe in the sparkling foam of Niagara. " This is the purest exercise of health, The kind refresher of the summer heats." A rustic bridge was here, to give you access to the Moss islands, which are well worthy a visit. Just above these islands you have the very best view of the rapids, that is pre- sented from any place about the Falls. Proceeding round the head of the island, you cross the place nearly opposite the saw-mill, where a number of human skeletons have been dug up, — supposed to be the former site of an Indian burying ground. If your visit is protracted at the Falls, you should pass around and through Goat Island by the different paths in order to observe its picturesque beauty and realize its thousand attractions. You ought also, if time permit, to visit the site of old Fort Schlosser, the Mineral Spring, the Whirlpool, the Devil's Hole, &c., to all which places the coach drivers will conduct you, and give such information and direc- tions as you may need. In order to cross the river, proceed from the bridge to the staircase, near the edge of the Falls, at the foot of which you will have a very near view of the highest Fall and a most charming prospect of the entire falls. " Above, around, beneath, amazement all ! Terror and glory joined in their extremes ;" Take a look from the window of the staircase and you will realize the truth of Shakspere's description, — " How fearful And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! I'll look no more. Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight Topple down headlong.'' b2 12 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. In crossing the river, not the least danger need be appre- hended ; it is a perfectly safe and most delightful excursion, and persons sometimes swim across without difficulty. The time occupied in crossing is ordinarily about eight minutes, and the ferriage is ]8| cents, from May to November; and 25 cents from November to May. If you have trunks or other baggage to be transported from either side to the other, the ferr3-man will convey them safel^^, at a reasonable charge. The river is here 76 rods wide, and 250 feet deep. Having crossed the river, you proceed up the bank by a carriage-road, at the head of which stands the Clifton House: here you can refresh yourself, and. proceed towards the Table Rock ; about half way between the Hotel and Table Rock, stands the very interesting Museum of Mr. Barnett, which visitors should by no means fail to visit. This gentleman (Mr. Barnett) has spent years in the collection of his museum, and an examination of its contents will amply prove that the time has not been spent uselessly. Proceed from the museum to Table Rock, where you will find a spiral staircase, from the foot of which you can pass 153 feet behind the sheet of water. This staircase is under the care of ]\Ir. Stark ey, who furnishes dresses and a guide for visitors who wish to go behind the sheet ; he also keeps a reading-room, and a neat and inviting shop of refreshments. An examination of the Albums in the establishment of Mr. Starkey, will be found amusing, as well as interesting. From Table Rock you have but one broad and imposing view of the whole Falls, and much of the scenery of the rapids and islands. It is generally conceded that this view', and that from the Terrapin Bridge, are the best, and combine more of the beautiful and sublime than can be obtained from any other point on either side of the river. In ascending the bank from Table Rock to the Hotels, you have a fine and extensive view of the surrounding country, and can visit Lundy's Lane, Brock's Monument, &c., as j^ou may have leisure or inclination. If you arrive first on the Canada side, proceed directly to NIAGARA RIVER, ITS SOURCES. 13 Table Rock, aud when satisfied with viewing the amazing scene there, both from above aud below, and have visited all the other objects of interest, follow the path to the Ferry, cross to the other side, and then visit Goat Island, as directed above. To those who wish the services of a living guide in their rambles and excursions, Mr. S. Hooker, ou the American side, offers himself; his house is near the Eagle Hotel. From a residence of twenty-two years at the Falls, he is enabled to conduct visitors to all the objects of interest, in the vicinity, and to give them much valuable information. NIAGARA RIVER, ITS SOURCES, AND ISLANDS. Niagara river, upon which the Falls are situated, receives the water of all the upper lakes, as Erie, St. Clair, Huron, Michigan, Superior, aud a number of smaller ones. The most distant source of the Niagara is probably the river St, Louis, which rises 1,250 miles northwest of the Falls, aud 150 miles west of Lake Superior ; it is 1,200 feet above the level of the ocean, and falls 551 feet before it reaches the lake. Lake Superior is 459 miles long, by 100 wide, and 900 feet deep : it is discharged into Lake Huron by the Strait St. Mary, 60 miles in length, making a descent of 45 feet. This lake receives the waters of about forty rivers. Lake Michigan is 300 miles by 50, and about 900 feet deep, and empties into Huron, through the Straits of Mackinac, 40 miles in length. Connected with Michigan on the south- west side, is Green Bay, 100 miles in length by about 20 in width. Lake Huron is 218 miles by 180, and 900 feet deep, and is discharged into Lake Erie, through the rivers St. Clair and Detroit, 90 miles, making a descent of 31 feet. Lake Erie is 290 miles by 03, aud 120 feet deep, and 564 feet 11 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. above the level of the sea. It empties itself through Niagara river, 35 miles in length, into Lake Ontario, making a descent of 334 feet, viz : From the lake to Schlosser, 12 feet; thence down the rapids, 53 feet; the perpendicular falls, 164 feet; from the Falls to Lewiston, 104 feet; and thence to Lake Ontario, 2 feet. Lake Ontario is 180 miles, by 31, and 500 feet deep, and discharges itself through the river St. Lawrence, into the Atlantic Ocean, 710 miles distant. The four inland seas above the Falls — as the great lakes may properly be called — with the hundreds of rivers, great and small, that flow into them, cover a surface of 150,000 square miles, and contain nearly half the fresh water on the surface of the globe. From these sources of the Niagara, some idea may be formed of the immense quantity of water, that is constantly pouring over the Falls. Niagara river, as it flows from Lake Erie, is about three- fonrths of a mile in width, and from twenty to forty feet deep ; for three miles it has a rapid current, and then it becomes calm and smooth till within one mile of the Falls. " So calm ; — the waters scarcely seem to stray, And yet they glide like happiness away." Five miles from the lake, the river begins to expand till it becomes more than eight miles in width, measured across Grand Island, and embraces, before it reaches the Falls, about forty islands. Of these the largest are Grand and Navy. Navy Island, belonging to Canada, contains 304 acres of good land, and terminates near Chippewa point. This island has acquired some notoriety in consequence of being the resort, during the winter of 1837-8, of a large body of men, lieaded hj William L. Mackenzie, Avhose object was a revo- lution in the government of Upper Canada. Batteries were erected upon the island, and considerable powder was burned in exchanging compliments between the island and Chip- pewa ; but as far as we have learned, but one man was ever killed on the island. It was finally evacuated some time in WHITE IIAVKN TIMBER COMPANY. la January^ 1838^ and has since remained quietly in the posses- sion of the British Government. Grand Island commences five miles from the lake, is twelve miles in length, measured around its edge, and from three to six in width, and terminates three miles above the Falls, containing 17,384 acres. The land is well timbered, rich, and productive. As the deepest channel of the river, forming the boundary line, runs on the west side, tliis island, until recently, belonged to the State of New-York ; but in the year 1833, a company from Boston purchased nearly the W'liole of the island, and have erected upon it, near the site of the famous Jewish city, Ararat, (projected in 18*25, by Major Noah, of New- York,) a steam grist-mill, and a saw^- mill, 150 feet square, containing 15 sets or gangs of saws. This mill is intended to furnish ship-stuff of every descrip- tion, from 20 to 70 feet in length, and is probably one of the most extensive establishments of its kind in America. The name of their village is " White Haven," situated nearly opposite Tonawanda, where the Erie Canal locks into the Niagara river. It is approached by a ferry across the river, here 100 rods wide, and has increased, since November 1833, from one solitary family to more than fifty ; it has also many workshops, a store, a school-house, a commodious wharf several hundred feet long, and a spacious dock made of piles, for storing and securing floating timber. In July, 1759, during the old French war, two large French vessels, in danger of being taken by the British, were burnt and sunk in what is called Burnt Ship Ba}^, near the lower end of this island. Some parts of them are still visible ; and some years since, a party of men, by raking the river at that place, secured many tons of iron. Among the other islands of the river, are Bird Island, between Bufli'alo and Fort Erie ; Squaw Island, containing 131 acres, opposite Black Rock ; Strawberry Island, contain- ing about 100 acres ; Beaver Island, of 30 acres ; Rattle- snake Island, of 48 acres ; Tonawanda Island, on which s the beautiful mansion of Stephen White, Esq., contain- 16 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. ing 69 acres; Cayuga Island, near the New York shore, four miles above the Falls, containing about 100 acres; Buck Horn Island, near the lower end of Grand and near Navy Islands, containing 145 acres; and a number of smaller islands, in and immediately above the rapids, besides Goat Island, &c., hereafter to be described. One feature in the Niagara river somewhat peculiar is, that neither the snows of winter, nor the evaporation of summer, neither rains nor drought, materially affect it ; its waters flow on, full and clear, perpetually the same ; except, as has long been observed, they have a small gradual rise and fall about once in seven years. The cause of this is unknown, but is undoubtedly to be sought in something affecting the upper lakes. Indeed, it has often been asserted by travellers, that the lakes have septennial fluxes and refluxes ; it is also asserted by some that they have small diurnal tides. This,, however, may reasonably be doubted. RECOLLECTIONS OF A TRIP TO THE FALLS OF NIAGARA IN SEPTEMBER, 1845. BY WILLIAM BARHAM. Though I confess that I have no great passion for travelling, still I believe myself to be one of those who do not mind putting themselves to a certain amount of trouble, incon- venience, and expense, in order to gain an object which they consider to be not only attainable, but desirable. For several years previous to my visit to America, I had cherished an in- creasing wish to behold some of the gigantic phenomena with which America abounds. Among these, the Falls of Niagara appeared an object of such peculiar interest, that as I was entirely disengaged at the time, I made up my mind to leave England by a ship bound for New York from London. In accordance with this resolution, I took a berth in the Victoria packet-ship. Captain Morgan : there were WILLIAM BARHAM. 17 about thirty cabin passengers, and about one hundred steerage passengers ; and the crew consisted of about twenty- five men. On the 19th of August we cleared out of St. Catharine's Dock ; a steam-tug having got the end of one of our hawsers; the wind was very fresh at the time from the south-west, and we passed Gravesend at a good speed, and stopped a Kttle below for some passengers, who had great difficulty in getting on board. We reached the Nore ; then anchored for the night ; and arrived at Portsmouth on the 23rd. Some of the passengers, with myself, went ashore, for a few hours. I here purchased a small stock of tobacco, which, although some of my readers may not admire, will be found by many a great resource in a long voyage. I certainly felt rather depressed in spirits on leaving Portsmouth, as I had never been far from England before. The Victoria is a remarkably fine ship, about 1,100 tons burden, and was very well manned. She cleared the Channel in the usual time, or in three or four days. Her powerful sails were soon propelling her over the waves of the broad Atlantic. There have been so many amusing accounts of voyages to New York that I shall not detain the reader in this waste of waters. Though I had been several coasting trips before, I had never had an opportunity of seeing the ocean lashed with fury by the angry tempest. To be brief, after a passage of thirty-five days from London, in which we encountered several gales of wind from the west, we arrived without accident at New York. I was not at all sorry to arrive at this fine city ; tired as we all were of the voyage. As we came oflF the Gulf of St. Lawrence, we fell in with an English brig of about 500 tons : she had been beating about in the same gales which we had experienced ; but not being built of such good materials as our American ship, she had carried away all her principal sails ; and, when we got within about a mile of her, she sent her mate, with four men, in a boat, to borrow some twine of us to mend the sails; so that I felt convinced (let the sailors say what they would) that we had seen some rather boisterous 18 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. weather. I was much charmed with the general appearance and situation of New York, which is uudeniably one of the finest cities in the world. The character of the streets and buildings resemble in some respects those of London ; while parts of the town put me in mind of Paris. I staid for two days at a private boarding-house, where the dinners, and the mode of serving them up, reminded me very strongly of the tables d'hote of the French : the style of dress too, though not peculiar, savoured of Parisian life. On the third, morning of my stay here, I rose, filled with visions of the mighty Falls, and embarked at about six o'clock in the morning, in a new river-boat called Niagara, more than 300 feet long ! and most splendidly furnished. We proceeded up the river Hudson, at the rate of about fifteen miles an hour. I have never had an opportunity of witnessing the scenery of the Rhine; but my impression is that the Hudson from New^ York to Albany, 150 miles, is in no way inferior in beauty and variety. We reached Albany early in the evening. This town is the seat of government for the State of New Y'ork, but is very small compared with that city. The next evening I paid my fare by railway to Buffalo, 332 miles. This is a single line nearly all the way, except at certain places, where it is double, so as to allow trains to pass each other. I arrived at Buffalo, a large to\Yn on lake Erie, the next night ; and having had a few hours' sleep, proceeded to the Falls by the Niagara and Buffalo railway. The train was drawn by an engine named after the Falls, which we reached in about an hour, the distance being twenty-five miles. On Saturday, then, at about ten o'clock, the 27th of September, I found myself in the village of Niagara, which is quite adjacent to the cataract, and was greeted by the thunder of its mighty waters. After leaving the train, I proceeded to the American Fall. There is a small balcony, built of timber, which projects over the commencement of Ihis Fall. It was here that I obtained my first glimpse of Niagara. I found that I had just sufficient nerve to venture to tiic end of this balconv, and then I cast my eyes into the WILLIAM BAKU AM. 19 gulf below. I felt bewildered and astonished, and a slight feeling of desire to jump over the rail into the abyss below, came over my mind. A magnificent rainbow extended its brilliant hues from the top of the Fall, until they were intermingled M'ith the foam which always conceals its base. I was particularl}'^ fortunate in the day, which was fine and Avarm, the sun being only occasionally obscured by some passing clouds. Not far from this spot there is a cutting through the upper part of the cliff, by which means a railway at an angle of 45° has been constructed from the top of the cliff, right down to the beach below the Falls; this is in- tended for the conveyance of luggage belonging to those who wish to cross the river. There is a long flight of steps by the side of this railway, down which I descended ; and, clamber- ing over the rocks at the foot of the Fall, obtained a very imposing view from this position ; the amazing mass of deep- green waters, seeming to fall direct from the bright blue sky, which formed the lofty horizon. I then proceeded to cross the ferry, which to my surprise was almost close to the American Fall. A black rowed us over this sea of troubled waters in about eight minutes ; and after partaking of some refreshment, and a walk of half a mile, I stood on the Table Rock. The dream of years was realized ; the awful floods of eternity swept past me with an overwhelming force, that, augmenting the farther, they descended, seemed to set all calculation at defiance ; till, plunging into the abyss below with a fearful crash, they sent up far over my head an enormous volume of foam and mist, which if the wind is from the American shore, will drench you to the skin in a few seconds Some transatlantic mathe- maticians have calculated that the power of Niagara is twenty times greater than all the steam-engines of Great Britain, or sufficient to set in motion all the artificial machinery on the face of the globe ! I then descended by means of a spiral staircase, and stood below the Table Rock. This view is singularly awful and terrific ; and, combined with the recommendation of the 20 DESCRIPTIONS Ol' NIAGARA. guide to enter the cavern which extends 180 feet behind the Fall, filled me with a degree of indescribable horror. I re- ascended to the Table Rock, and remained there for about two hours ; during which time the sun effectually dried my clothes. I soon after re-crossed the ferry, and then went to the St. Lawrence Hotel in the village. Having left my carpet-bag there, I crossed the bridge, reached Goat Island, wrote my name in a book kept for the purpose of receiving the names of visitors, and spent the afternoon in visiting the principal points of view from this romantic spot. The views from the craggy beach below Goat Island are peculiarly beautiful. I should recommend those who may visit this lovely island, to cross the Terrapin Bridge, and also to mount the tower at its extremity, which is about 45 feet high. I have heard of persons being disappointed with Niagara : to me it appears, that if bad taste may be considered a species of insanity, such persons ought to be regarded as maniacs. I spent the early part of the Sunday in viewing the whirl- pool, three miles below the Falls, whicli in point of real interest cannot be at all compared with Niagara. The same day I returned to Buffalo, and proceeded on to Boston ; which I reached on the first of October, only an hour before the Britannia mail-steamer slipped her cable. This fine vessel, commanded by Captain Hewitt, whose gentlemanly conduct seemed to give great satisfaction to all the passengers, had a narrow escape; as she nearly run on an iceberg about 200 feet high. The absorption of caloric by a large iceberg may be perceived at half a mile distant, and on a dark night this increase of cold will give warning of danger : but guarded by a good Providence, she eventually arrived in safety a Liverpool. Gentle Reader ! fully impressed as I was during a stay of not more than thirty hours at Niagara with its surpassing gran- deur, I feel my own inability to convey in words a just idea of this the most stupendous cataract on the face of the globe. 1 shall therefore borrow assistance from the best descriptions mIucIi I have been able to collect. THE RAPIDS. 21 THE RAPIDS.— GOAT ISLAND. I MUST here apprize the reader, that it were vain to attempt a graphic description of the Falls and surrounding scenery ; for they so immeasurably exceed everything of the kind elsewhere seen or even imagined, that no power of lan- guage can give any adequate idea of them to those who have not been present to hear and see for themselves. ■ Captain Basil Hall remarks, " All parts of Niagara are on a scale which baffles every attempt of the imagination, and it were ridiculous therefore, to think of describing it ; the ordinary means of description, I mean analogy, and direct comparison, with things which are more accessible, fail entirely in the case of that amazing cataract, which is altogether unique." " All the pictures you may see," says J. J. Audubon, " all the descriptions you may read, of these mighty Falls, can only produce in your mind the faint glimmer of the glow-worm, compared with the overpowering glory of the meridian sun." Those scenes, which are sketched in the following pages, may be considered, therefore, only as a very faint outline, or shadow, of the reality. Below the termination of Grand and Navy Islands, the river is compressed to the width of two and a half miles ; and pressing forward with accelerated motion, it commences, about three-fourths of a mile above the Falls, a rapid descent making within that distance a slope or succession of chutes, amounting to fifty-two feet on the American side, and fifty- seven on the other. — The tremendous and beautiful rapids thus formed, constitute a very important part of the grand and unparalleled curiosities of this river. Were they in any other place, they would of themselves be considered as a scene of great beauty and sublimity, equalled only by the ocean when lashed into foam and fury by the angry tempest. Many visitors express themselves more delighted, and unex- pectedly filled with wonder, at seeing the rapids than the Falls themselves. 23 DESCRIPTIONS OP NIAGARA. " Though spai-kling spray in thmidering clash, The lightning of the water flash, In awful whiteness o'er the shore, That shines and shakes beneath the roar." Two miles above tlie Falls, in approaching from Buffalo, you come in sight of the white-crested breakers, more than a mile in width, dashing, foaming, and tossing from ten to thirty- feet above the main current ; and at the same time hear a low, monotonous tremendous roar, and as you approach nearer, feel a tremulous motion of the earth. The distance at which this roar can be heard varies with the state of the atmosphere, ordinarily from five to twenty miles, though it is said to have been heard at Toronto, forty-five miles distant : and yet, in the village near the Falls it is scarcely heard at all. The mist, arising like curling smoke, and sepa- rating as it rises into masses of fantastic clouds, is seen at the distance of from three to twenty miles. This distance depends upon the state of the atmosphere, the height of the sun, and the force and direction of the wind. This mist sometimes rises in immense masses, and sometimes in a pyramidal shape to a very great height, and is an object of great curiosity, especially in the morning, soon after sunrise. It then sparkles like diamonds, and becomes illuminated with the most brilliant prismatic colours. " Niagara ! Niagara ! I hear Thy tumbling waters. And 1 see thee rear Thy thundering sceptre to the clouded skies ; I see it wave— I hear the ocean rise. And roll obedient to thy call. I hear The tempest-hymning of thy flood in fear ; The quaking mountains and the nodding trees — The reeling birds — and the careering breeze — The tottering hills, unsteadied in thy roar ; Niagara ! as thy dark waters pour. One everlasting earthquake rocks thy lofty shore." From Table Rock, you have an extensive and picturesque view of the rapids ; but they are seen to still better advan- tage from the bank of the river, half a mile above. They are also to be seen to very "great advantage from the different TABLE ROCK GOAT ISLAND. 23 sides of Goat Island. Indeed, the great variety of views of the rapids to be obtained from the island, renders it the most eligible place for viewing them. From the south-west corner of this island, just above the Moss islands, you have by far the best view that can be taken from any place. There is, too, an amazing rush of water between the Moss islands, the force and sublimity of which may be conceived, but not described ; and no tourist or traveller, who desires to beiiold one of the most wild and fantastic scenes in the vicinity of the great Falls, should fail to visit this beautiful and inter- esting spot. Goat Island, is so called from the circumstance, that about the year 1770, Mr. Steadman, then resident at Schlosser, contrived by some means to put a few goats upon the island ; but its more appropriate and adopted name is Iris Island. It commences near the head of the rapids, almost in the middle of the river, and extends to the precipice, dividing the Falls into two sheets. It is half a mile in length, and one-fourth of a mile in width, and contains seventy-five acres of rich and heavy-timbered land. Situated in the midst of the rapids, aud surrounded by them on three sides, this island is one of the most beautiful, fascinating, and romantic places in the world ; it affords a delightful retreat for " the lunatic, the lover, and the poet," to indulge in their meditations. Fanned by gentle breezes, thickly and delightfully shaded, free from noisome insects, encircled by a neat walk, and presenting to the visitor a great variety of views of the Falls and rapids, he feels a reluctance on leaving it, and is wont to exclaim with Montgomery, " If God hath made this world so fair, Where sin and death abound ; How beautiful, beyond compare, Will Paradise be found !" Or with Eve, in the language of Milton, — " Must I leave thee, Paradise ? These happy walks and shades, Fit haunt of godsi?' 24 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. About two-thirds of this island are still covered with tall trees, many of which are clothed with a magnificent drapery of ivy and other creeping plants, and many ha\ e beenkilledby reason of the countless names that have been cut into their bark. So strong is the desire of man for immortality, that few can resist the temptation to leave some memorial of their visit to the Falls. The earliest genuine date of any name yet found, is in the year 1769, though names have been cut within a few years, and dated back as early as 1745 ; but on the rocks near the Falls on the American side, there are names chiselled out and dated 1711, 1726, 1745, &c. On Goat Island, a number of human skeletons have, within a few years, been dug up ; supposed to be the remains of Indians buried in a former age, and many more are doubtless now resting there in undisturbed repose. There may they rest, in nature's solitude, till the Great Spirit calls them hence ! On this island is found a very great variety of wild plants, shrubs, and flowers ; nearly two hundred different species, some of them very rare, have already been discovered. Of the TiUum Grandiflora, sixteen varieties are found here. The seeds of plants and flowers, from the shores of all the upper lakes and rivers, have probably been washed upon this island. — Some j^ears since, a number of deer were put upon this island, which soon became quite tame; but visitors, in order to see them leap, Avould occasionally frighten them, when they would immediately betake themselves to the rapids, and thus were carried over the Falls, until all were finally destroyed. Judge Porter, the proprietor of the island, has had it in contemplation to lay out upon it a spacious garden, in which all the plants and fruits adapted to this genial climate, should be cultivated. When this and other projected improvements shall be completed, no other spot on this earth, perhaps, will present attractions equal to this celebrated and beautiful island. The approach to it is from the American side, by means of a bridge of the most difficult and hazardous construction, which extends from the shore, 28 rods, to Bath Island, and thence 16 rods further, to Goat Island. NIAGARA. 25 There are many other beautiful islands situated among the rapids of this river, a number of which, as Bath, Ship, and Luna, are, and all the rest might be, connected with Goat Island by bridges, and afifbrd the most charming and impres- sive views of the surrounding scenery. On Bath Island, which is twenty-four rods in length, containing about two acres, is the Toll House, kept by Mr. A. B. Jacobs, who keeps an excellent house of refreshment, and has for sale one of the best collec- tions of Indian curiosities, geological specimens, walking- canes, &c. &c. which are to be found at the Falls. On this island is situated Porter's extensive Paper Mill, three stories high, where is manufactured yearly large quantities of paper.* Luna Island, about thirty yards in width, stands directly on the precipice near Goat Island, and divides the stream, a part of which forms the most splendid cascade, perhaps in the world. This is about twenty-two yards in width, and is sometimes called the " Centre Fall,^' to distinguishing it from the other two main sheets. Approaching this island from the foot of what is called, from the shape of the path, the " Hog's Back,'^ visitors have, from the north-west corner, a much better view of the American Fall than can be obtained from any other place. This Fall, like the other, has evidently changed its shape within a few years, and has now nearly as much of a resemblance to a horse-shoe as the other. There are ten other islands in the rapids besides those above mentioned, containing perhaps from one-fourth to an acre each, to all which bridges might, probably, be con- structed. * The paper composing the Guide Book which I purchased on Goat Island was manufactured here. 20 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA NIAGARA.— BY CHARLES DICKENS. (From his American Notes.) Between five and six in the morning we arrived at Buffalo, where we breakfasted ; and being too near the Grand Falls to wait patiently anywhere else, we set off by the train the same morning ; it was a miserable day ; chilly and raw ; a damp mist falling ; and the trees in that northern region quite bare and wintry. Whenever the train halted, I listened for the roar ; and was constantly straining my eyes in the direction where I knew the Falls must be, from seeing the river rolling onwards towards them ; every moment expecting to behold the spray. Within a few minutes of our stopping, not before, I saw two great white clouds rising up slowly and majestically from the depths of the earth. That was all. At length Ave alighted ; and, then for the first time I heard the mighty rush of water, and felt the ground tremble underneath my feet. The bank is very steep, and was slippery with rain, and half melted ice. I hardly know how I got down, but I was soon at the bottom, and climbing, with two English officers who were crossing and had joined me, over some broken rocks, deafened by the noise, half-blinded by the spray, and wet to the skin. We were at the foot of the American Fall. I could see an immense torrent of water tearing headlong down from some great height, but had no idea of shape, or situation, or anything but vague immensity. We were seated in the little ferry-boat, and were crossing the swollen river immediately before both cataracts. I began to feel what it was ; but I was in a manner stunned, and unable to comprehend the vastness of the scene. It was not until I came on Table Rock, and looked — Great Heaven, on what a fall of bright green water ! — that it came upon me in its full might and majesty. CHARLES DICKENS. 27 Then wlien I felt how near to my Creator I was standing_, the first efifeet, and the enduring one — instant and lasting — of the tremendous spectacle, was — Peace, Peace of Mind : Tranquillity : Calm recollections of the dead : Great Thoughts of Eternal Rest and Happiness : nothing of Gloom or Terror. Niagara was at once stamped upon my heart, an Image of Beauty ; to remain there, changeless and indelible, until its pulses cease to beat for ever. Oh, how the strife and trouble of our daily life receded from my view, and lessened in the distance, during the ten memorable days we passed on that Enchanted Ground ! What voices spoke from out the thundering water ; what faces, faded from the earth, looked out upon me from its gleaming depths ; what heavenly promise glistened in those angels' tears, the drops of many hues, that showered around, and twined themselves about the gorgeous arches which the changing rainbows made ! I never stirred in all that time from the Canadian side, whither I had gone at first. I never crossed the river again ; for I knew there were people on the other shore, and in such a place it is natural to shun strange company. To wander to and fro all day, and see the cataracts from all points of view : to stand upon the edge of the Great Horse-Shoe Fall, mark- ing the hurried water gathering strength as it approached the verge, yet seeming, too, to pause before it shot into the gulf below ; to gaze from the river's level up at the torrent as it came streaming down ; to climb the neighbouring heights and watch it through the trees, and see the wreathing water in the rapids hurrying on to take its fearful plunge ; to linger in the shadow of the solemn rocks three miles below ; watch- ing the river, as, stirred by no visible cause, it heaved and eddied and awoke the echoes, being troubled yet, far down the surface by its giant leap ; to have Niagara before me, lighted by the sun and by the moon, and in the day's decline, and gray as evening slowly fell upon it ; to look upon it every day, and Avake up in the night, and hear its ceaseless voice ! This was enough. c 2 28 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. I think, in every quiet season now, still do those waters roll and leap, and roar and tumble, all day long; — still are the rainbows spanning them, a hundred feet below ; — still when the sun is on thera do the}^ shine and glow like molten gold; — still when the day is gloomy, do they fall like snow, or seem to crumble away like the front of a great chalk-cliflF, or roll down the rock like dense white smoke. But alwaj's does the mighty stream appear to die as it comes down, and always from its unfathomable grave arises that tremendous ghost of spray and mist which is never laid; which has haunted this place with the same dread solemnity since darkness brooded over the deep, and that first flood, before the deluge, — Light, came rushing on Creation at the word of God. MRS. TROLLOP E. (From her Domestic Manners of the Americans, in 1830.) At length w'e reached Niagara. It was the brightest day that June could give ; and almost any day woiild have seemed bright that brought me to the object which for years I had languished to look upon. We did not hear the sound of the Falls till very near the hotel which overhangs them : as you enter the door, you see behind the hall an open space, sur- rounded by galleries, one above another, and in an instant you feel that from thence the wonder is visible. I trembled like a fool, and my girls clung to me, trembling too I believe, but with faces beaming with delight. We encountered a waiter who had a sympathy in some sort with us ; for he would not let us run through the first gallery, but ushered us up stairs, and another instant placed us, where, at one glance, I saw all I had wished for, hoped for, dreamed of. It is not for me to attempt a description of Niagara ; I feel I have no power for it. After one long steadfast gaze, we quitted the gallery, that we uiight approach still nearer, and in leaving the MRS. TROLLOPE. 29 house liad the good fortune to meet an Eiighsh gentleman,* who had been introduced to us at New York ; he had preceded us but a few days, and knew exactly how and where to lead us. If any man living can describe the scene we looked upon, it is himself, and I trust he will do it. As for myself, I can only say, that wonder, terror, and delight com- pletely overwhelmed me. I wept with a strange mixture of pleasure and of pain, and certainly was for some time too violently affected in the physique to be capable of much pleasure ; but when this emotion of the senses subsided, and I had recovered some degree of composure, my enjoyment was very great indeed. To say that I was not disappointed, is but a weak expression to convey the surprise and astonish- ment which this long-dreamed-of scene produced. It has to me something beyond its vastness; there is a shadowy mystery hangs about it, which neither the eye nor even the imagination can penetrate ; but I dare not dwell on this, it is a dangerous subject, and any attempt to describe the sen- sations produced must lead direct to nonsense. Exactly at the Fall, it is the Fall and nothing else you have to look upon ; there are not, as at Trenton, mighty rocks and towering forests. There is only the waterfall; but it is the fall of an ocean ; and were Pelion piled on Ossa, on either side of it, we could not look at them. The noise is greatly less than I expected ; one can hear with perfect distinctness everything said in an ordinary tone, when quite close to the cataract. The cause of this I imagine to be that it does not fall immediately among rocks, like the far noisier Potomac, but direct and unbroken, save by its own rebound. The colour of the water before this rebound hides it in foam and mist, is of the brightest and most delicate green ; the violence of the impulse sends it far over the pre- cipice before it falls, and the effect of the ever-varying light, through its transparency is, I think, the loveliest thing I ever looked upon. We descended to the edge of the gulf which receives the * The acconiplislied author of " Cyril Thornton." 30 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. torrent, and thence looked at the Horse- Shoe Fall in profile; it seems like awful daring to stand beside it, and raise one's eyes to its immensity. I think the point most utterly incon- ceivable to those who have not seen it, is the centre of the Horse- Shoe. The force of the torrent converges there ; and as the heavy mass pours in, twisted, wreathed, and curled together, it gives an idea of irresistible power, such as no other object ever conveyed to me. The following anecdote, which I had from good authority, may give some notion of this mighty power. After the last American war, three of our ships, stationed on Lake Erie, were declared unfit for service, and condemned. Some of their officers obtained permission to send them over Niagara Falls. The first was torn to shivers by the rapids, and went over in fragments ; the second filled with water before she reached the Fall; but the third, which was in better condition, took the leap gallantly, and retained her form till it was hid in the cloud of mist below. A reward of ten dollars was offered for the largest fragment of wood that could be found from either wreck, five for the second, and so on. One morsel only was ever seen, and that about a foot in length ; it was marked as by a vice, and its edges notched like the teeth of a saw. What had become of the immense quantity of wood which had been precipitated ? What imknown whirlpool had ingulfed, so that, contrary to the very laws of nature, no vestige of the floating material could find its way to the surface? Beyond the Horse-Shoe is Goat Island, and beyond Goat Island the American Fall, bold straight , and chafed to snowy whiteness by tne rocKS wnicn meet it : but it does not approach in sublimity or awful beauty, to the wondrous crescent on the other shore. There, the form of the mighty caldron, into which the deluge pours, the hundred silvery torrents congregated round its verge, the smooth and solemn movement with which it rolls its massive volume over the rock, the liquid emerald of its long-unbroken waters, the fan- tastic wreaths which spring to meet it, and then the shadowy MRS. TROLLOPE. 31 mist that veils the horrors of its crash below, constitute a scene almost too enormous in its features /or man to look upon. " Angels might tremble as they gazed/^ and I should deem the nerves obtuse, rather than strong, which did not quail at first sight of this stupendous cataract. After break- fast we crossed to the American side, and explored Goat Island. The passage across the Niagara, directly in face of the Falls, is one of the most delightful little voyages imagin- able ; the boat crosses marvellously near them, and within reach of a light shower of spray. Real safety and apparent danger have each their share in the pleasure felt. The river is here two hundred feet deep. The passage up the rock brings you close upon the American cataract j it is a vast sheet, and has all the sublimity which height, and width, and uproar can give ; but it has none of the magic of its rival about it. Goat Island has, at all points, a fine view of the rapids ; the furious velocity with which they rush onwards to the abyss is terrific; and the throwing a bridge across them was a work of noble daring. Below the Falls, the river runs between lofty rocks, crowned with unbroken forests; this scene forms a striking contrast to the level shores above the cataract. It appears as if the level of the river had been broken up by some volcanic force. The Niagara flows out of Lake Erie, a broad, deep river; but for several miles its com'se is tranquil, and its shores perfectly level. By degrees its bed begins to sink, and the glassy smooth- ness is disturbed by a slight ripple. The inverted trees, that before lay so softly upon its bosom, become twisted and tortured till they lose their form, and seem madly to mix in the tumult that destroys them. The current becomes more rapid at every step, till rock after rock has chafed the stream to fury ; making the green, one white. This lasts for a mile, and then down sink the rocks at once, one hundred and fifty feet, and the enormous flood falls after them, God said, let there be a cataract, and it was so. How utterly futile must 32 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. be every attempt to describe the spot ! How vain every effort to convey an id^a of the sensations it produces ! Why is it so exquisite a pleasure to stand for hours drenched in spray, stunned by the ceaseless roar, trembling from the concussion that strikes the very rock you cling too, and breathing pain- fully in the moist atmophere that seems to have less of air than water in it ? Yet pleasure it is, and I almost think the greatest I ever enjoyed. We more than once approached the entrance to the appalling cavern behind the Horse-Shoe Fall; but I never fairly entered it, though two or three of my party did. I lost my breath entirely; and the pain at my chest was so severe, that not all my curiosity could enable me to endure it. What was that Cavern of the Winds, of which we heard of old, compared to this ? A mightier spirit than iEolus reigns here. It was a sort of pang to take what we knew must be our last look at Niagara ; but " we had to do it " as the Americans say, and left it on the 10th of June for Buffalo. THE FALLS— TERRAPIN BRIDGE AND TOWER. The broad river, as it comes thundering and foaming down the declivity of the rapids, at length leaps the cataract, three- fourths of a mile in width, and falls, as it were, to the central caves of the earth. The mind, filled with amazement, recoils at the spectacle, and loses for a moment its equilibrium. The trembling of the earth, the mighty rush and conflict, and deafening roar of the water, the clouds of mist sparkling with rainbows, produce an effect upon the beholder, often quite overpowering; and it is only after the scene has become somewhat familiar to the eye, the ear, and the imagination, that its real grandeur and sublimity is properly realized and felt. TERRAPIN BRIDGE AND TOWER. 33 " To sit on rocks, to muse on flood and field, To slowly trace tlte forest's shady scene, Where things tliat own not man's dominion dwell, And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely been. « • « Alone o'er steps and foaming falls to lean : This is not solitude ; 'tis but to hold Converse with nature's charms, and see her stores unrolled." The water on the American side, as ascertained by frequent measurement, falls 164 feet, and on the Canada side, 158 feet. The Fall on the Canada side, embracing much the largest channel of the river, is called, from the shape of the precipice, the " Crescent, or Horse Shoe Fall,'^ and near to this a bridge, called the Terrapin Bridge, has been constructed, 300 feet in length, from Goat Island, and projecting ten feet over the Falls, Near the termination of this bridge, in the water, and on the very verge of the precipice, a stone tower, forty-five feet high, with winding steps to the top, was erected in the year 1833, from which, or from the end of the bridge, the effect of the Falls upon the beholder is most awfully sub- lime, and utterly indescribable. The sublime arising from obscurity, is here experienced in its greatest force. The eye, unable to discover the bottom of the Falls, or even to pene- trate the mist that seems to hang as a veil over the amazing and terrific scene, gives place to the imagination, and the mind is instinctively elevated and filled with majestic dread. Here is " All that expands, yet appals." " And such was that rainbow, that beautiful one. Whose arch was refraction, its keystone — the sun ; A pavilion it seemed with a Deity graced, And justice and mercy met there and embraced." The solar and lunar bows, the river above and beloAV, and indeed the whole scenery of the Falls and rapids, appear to better advantage from this point than from any other ; and no visitor on either side should presume to leave the Falls with- out visiting the tower and bridge. From the top of the tower especially, he will realize the force and beautv of the 34 DESCRIPTIONS OP NIAGARA. following description, which, with the change of a single word, applies admirably to this matchless scene : " The roav of waters ! From the headlong height Niagara cleaves the wave-worn precipice ; The fall of waters rapid as the light, Tlie flashing mass foams, shaking the abyss ; The hell of waters ! where they howl and hiss, And boil in endless torture; while the sweat Of their great agony, wrung out from this Their Phlegetlion, curls round the rocks of jet That gird the gulf around, in pitiless hoiTor set. And mounts in spray the skies, and thence again Returns in an unceasing shower, which round With its unemptied cloud of gentle rain Is an etei'nal April to the ground. Making it all one emerald ; — how profound The gulf! — and how the giant element From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound. Crushing the cliffs, which downward worn and rent, With his fierce footsteps, yield in chasms a fearful vent. » ' « * » * * * Look back ! Lo ! where it comes like an eternity, As if to sweep down all things in its track, Charming the eye with dread, — a matchless cataract, Horribly beautiful ! but on the verge. From side to side, beneath the glittering morn, An Iris sits, amid the infernal surge. Like Hope upon a death-bed, and, unworn It steady dies, while all around is torn By the distracted waters, bears serene Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorn, Resembling, 'mid the torture of the scene, Love watching Madness with unalterable mien." Byron. The lunar bow, seen at night, in the time of full moon, appears like a brightly illuminated arch, reaching from side to side, and is an object of great attraction, — especially as the world presents but few other places where such a bow is ever seen, " Hung on the cui-ling mist, the moonlight bow Arches the perilous river. " Goat Island, in a moonlight night, is the resort of great LUNAR BOW ROMANTIC INCIDENT. 35 multitudes^ and is a scene of unrivalled beauty and mag- nificence. The rapids at such a time sparkle with phosphoric splendour, and nature around wears an irresistible charm of loveliness. There is " A silver light, which hallowing tree and tower, Sheds beauty and deep softness o'er the whole." The writer once had the pleasure of joining a lovely couple in marriage, about eleven o'clock on one of the brightest nights he has ever known, in full vicAV of this enchanting scene, and then of taking a romantic excursion with the party around the island. This was poetry indeed ; it was one of those bright and verdant oases sometimes met with in the journey of life. BTDDLE STAIRCASE.— iEOLUS' CAVE. At the lower end of Goat Island, about one-third across it, a staircase, erected in the year 1829, at the expense of Nicholas Biddle, Esq., of Philadelphia, gives visitors an opportunity of descending below the bank, and of passing a considerable distance behind the two main sheets of water. The descent from the top of the island to the margin of the river, is 185 feet. A common flight of steps leads down 40 feet, to the perpendicular spiral steps, 90 in number, which are enclosed in a building in the shape of a hexagon, resting on a firm foundation at the bottom. From the foot of the building, there are three paths leading to the most important points of observation, one of which leads to the river below, 80 feet, Avhere visitors will find one of the finest fishing-places in this part of the world. All the varieties of fish existing in Lake Ontario, are found here, among which are sturgeon, pike, pickerel, black and white bass, herring, cat-fish, eels, &c. Here was Sam Patch's jumping place. The path at the left of the staircase leads to the great Crescent Fall, 36 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. where, when the wind blows np the liver, a safe and dehghtfui passage is opened behind the sheet of water. The path to the right leads to a magnificent Cave, appro- priately named when it was first discovered, twenty-seven years since, iEolus' Cave, or Cave of the Winds. This cave is about 120 feet across, 50 feet wide, and 100 feet high ; it is situated directly behind the Centre Fall, which at the bottom is more than 100 feet wide, and, were the rocks exca- vated a little and a few steps made, visitors could safely pass into and entirely througli the cave, behind the sheet of water. Beyond this cave, at the foot of Luna Island, there is an open space, where persons may amuse themselves at leisure upon the rocks over which the floods are pouring, and then venture in as far as they please behind the whole American Fall. The writer of these pages first conceived the idea of effect- ing an entrance into tliis cave, July 14, 1834, while passing in front of the American Fall in a boat, and the next day it was effected, for the first time, by Messrs. Berry, H. White, and George Sims, both residents at the Falls, who passed round the outside of the Falls, and landed at the foot of Luna Island. Accompanying the above idea, was a project of passing behind tlie whole American Fall, fifty rods, and coming out near the ferry. This passage, though not yet effected, is believed to be possible ; for the opening between the sheet of water as it falls, and the rock behind, is from fifteen to fifty feet wide, and there are rocks to walk upon through the whole distance. If there be any insurmountable obstacle, it will probably be found in the tremendous wand and spray occasioned by the falling flood. A passage into the cave was at first considered a great exploit, but a passage behind the whole sheet would be inconceivably greater. The cave itself, is the ne plus ultra of w^onders ; a visit to which, no person of svifiicient nerve, ought to omit. Ladies and gentlemen can very often, when the wind blows down the river, pass a con- siderable distance behind the sheet of water within the cave, without getting Avet at all. The view presented to a person while in the cave, in connexion with the tremendous and EXTRACT FROM BRAINARD. 37 astounding roar of waters, which, owing to the echoes or rever- berations, is apparently a hundred times greater here than anywhere else, will enable him to appreciate the following beautiful and graphic lines of Brainard, — especially as there is always, in the afternoon, when the sun shines, a very bright rainbow visible directly within the cave, and behind the sheet of water. " The thoughts are strange that crowd into nij' brain, While I look upwards to thee. It would seem As if God poured thee from his hollow hand, And hung his bow upon thy awful front, And spoke in that loud voice, which seemed to him Who dwelt in Patmos for his Saviour's sake, ' The sound of many waters ;' and had bade Thy flood to chronicle the ages back, And notch His centuries in the eternal rocks. Deep calleth unto deep. And what are we, That hear the question of that voice sublime ? Oh ! what are the notes that ever rung From war's vain trumpet, by thy thundering side ? Yea, what is all the riot man can make In his short life, to thy unceasing roar ? And yet, bold babbler, what are thou to Him Who drowned a world, and heaped the waters far Above its loveliest mountains ? — a light wave, That breaks, and whispers of its Maker's might.'' How little and insignificant do the efforts of man appear, when measured by this exhibition of Omnipotence ! The earthquake, the volcano, the wide-spread conflagration, the shock of contending armies, are sublime and terrific spec- tacles, though short in their continuance and limited in their effects ; but here, ever since the Flood, probably, the deafening and incessant roar of the mightiest cataract on the globe has called upon the children of men to fall down and adore their Maker. 38 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. BUCKINGHAM. (From his Ti'avels in the Eastern and Western States, in 1837.) On the morning of Wednesday, the 22d of July, we embarked in the steamer Cincinnati, for Chippewa and the Niagara Falls. Leaving the harbour of Buffalo at eleven o'clock, we soon entered the Niagara Strait, by which the waters of Lake Erie are discharged into Ontario. At two o'clock we reached Chippewa, on the Canada side, where we landed, as it is dangerous for vessels to go nearer the Falls than this, a distance of about two miles, lest they should be drawn, by the powerful current setting downwards, into the rapids, and thus carried over the cataract, which happens to small boats, sometimes with people in them, almost every year. From Chippewa we took a carriage, to convey us to the Clifton Hotel, a distance of about three miles ; and in our way there, over the high grounds that overlook the Strait, we had a fine view of the turbulent rapids, spreading over a space of more than a mile in length, and nearly a mile in breadth, covered with breakers, such as are only seen on a rocky sea-shore, in the most violent gales, and the foaming water hurrying along at the rate of eight or ten miles an hour. Soon after this we came to a point from whence the whole force of the impetuous torrent could be seen just curling over the edge of the Horse-Shoe Fall, and thence descending in one vast volume into the deep abyss below. From this point of view, the Fall seemed grander to our eyes than at ovoc first visit to it ; and our second impressions were certainly more powerful than the first. Every step that we made only increased the grandeur and beauty of the scene. From the brow of the hill over which we were passing, and near to which the Pavilion Hotel formerly stood, (the burnt fragment of the building still remaining, to tell travellers of BUCKINGHAM'S TRAVELS. 39 its recent destruction by fire^) the whole view of the Valley of Niagara was at once enchanting and sublime. The earth looked clothed in fresher verdure than we had seen it in before ; the recent rains having brightened all the grass and foliage of the surrounding country. The undulations of hill and dale appeared more graceful. There were many more and prettier villa - residences and gardens than we had remarked in our former visit. The water seemed in greater volumes^ and the rush of the rapids, the foam of the cataract, the rising clouds of mist from its feet, and the roar of its thunder, seemed to us all on a grander scale than ever. We lingered to enjoy this unequalled landscape ; full of the most sublime and awful grandeur near, and as full of the softest and loveliest beauty, which every combination of hill and valley, forest and lawn, rock and verdure, cataract, lake, and river, that the most enchanting scenes of the picturesque could demand — a landscape that leaves all others on this con- tinent that we had yet beheld, far in the shade, and that cannot be surpassed, I think, in grandeur or in beauty, throughout the world. We reached the Clifton Hotel at three o'clock, and devoted the whole of the remaining day till dark night, to perambu- lating and re-enjoying, with new and increased delight, the endless charms of the Falls. In our former visit here, we had examined every remarkable spot, and every favourable point of view, and the result of the whole of my investigations and impressions were embodied in the description of Niagara, drawn up at that time ;* but our feelings were, we thought, more powerfully affected now, than on that occasion, though we then considered them to be as deeply impressed as possible ; and if we before wondered at persons coming here, staying for a short period, and then going away disappointed, it now seemed plain to us that the reason of this was to be found in the shortness of their stay ; and that a second visit, or a third if necessary, might have brought out a feeling of admiration and delight, which a first visit was insufficient to * See " America," First Series, vol. ii. p. 498. 40 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. kindle into life. We passed the greater part of the evening on Table Rock^ which overhangs the deep basin into which the Horse- Shoe Fall descends on the Canada side, when you may stand within a few feet of the very edge of the cataract, see its ceaseless torrent bending in one continuous stream of the richest emerald green, streaked Avith flakes of the purest snow, and descending in a resistless mass to the boiling abyss, whose depth is hidden by the clouds of mist rising upwards, as the everlasting incense of the waters, ascending before an altar or a throne. For myself, I can truly say that I felt sensations of the deepest awe, mingled with an exquisite glow of the most intense pleasure, and a charm, amounting almost to infatuation, which fixed me immovably to the spot. Neither the showers of the rising spray, nor the deafening roar of " the many waters," seemed to have any other effect than to make it the more difficult to tear one's self away ; and the longer I remained, the more strongly I felt disposed to continue to gaze on in silence, as if entering on an eternity of pleasure. Then, too, the feeling that this mighty Cataract had been rushing and roaring for thousands of years without intermission ; and that it M^ould flow on in the same continuous and unabated impetuosity for thousands of years yet to come, exalts the whole subject into one of inexpressible sublimity. True, it is as a tear-drop, compared to the vastness of the ocean ; and the ocean itself is insignificant compared with the whole mass of the globe ; the globe as a speck, compared with the great luminary of the sun ; the sun a mere point, compared with the planetary system of Avhich it is the centre ; and the whole system an almost unappreciable atom, when compared with the boundless universe, diff'used through that illimitable space, which, like the infinite Creator of all, knows neither beginning nor end ! How humble, then, are we, who stand thus overwhelmed and overawed by such an inconsiderable fragment of the great whole as this, before which we seem but as dust in the balance? Yet, at the same time, "how fearfullv and wonder- BUCKINGHAM'S TRAVELS. 41 fully are we made/' when, amidst all this grandeur, of which the human iutellect and the immortal spirit form so impor- tant a part, we seem blind to the dignity with which we are invested — as the living, feeling, thinking, reflecting, reasoning, and hoping inhabitants and possessors of such a world as our domain ! Instead of trying to fill it with the moral blessings of mutual love, mutual instruction, and mutual peace — we honour war, the very breath of whose nostrils is hatred and revenge; we pay homage to ignorance, if it be robed in wealth; and we elevate to the highest pinnacles of earthly glory, those whose lives have been remote from the "paths of peace," whose distinction lies in the number of battles they have fought, and the number of the slaughtered dead they have left upon the battle-field ! With these and a thousand other kindred thoughts and feelings passing through my mind and heart, I sat and gazed upon Niagara for hours; and yet they passed away so rapidly, that I was almost unconscious of their speed. We read again the lines written on the spot two years ago, and found no occasion to abate any expression of the intense admiration which such a scene cannot fail to inspire. HYMN TO NIAGARA. (Written at the first sij^ht of its magnificent Falls, August, 1838.) Hail! Sovereign of the World of Floods, whose majesty and might, First dazzles — then enraptures — then o'erawes the aching sight : The pomp of kings and emperors, in every clime and zone, Grows dim before the splendour of thy glorious watery throne. No flesh can stop thy progress, no armies bid thee stay ; But onward— onward — onward— tliy march still holds its way The rising mist that veils thee as thine herald goes before, And the music that proclaims thee is the thundei'ing cataracts' roar. Thy diadem is an emerald green, of the clearest, purest hue, Set round M'ith waves of snow-white foam, and spray of feathery dew ; White tresses of the brightest pearls float o'er thine ample sheet, And the rainbow lays. its gorgeous gems in tribute at thy feet. D 42 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Thy reign is of the ancient days, thy sceptre from on high, Thy birth was when the morning stars togetlier sang witli joy : The sun, the moon, and all the orbs that shine upon thee now. Saw the first wreath of glory that enthron'd thy infant brow. And from that hour to this, in which I gaze upon thy stream. From ago to age — in winter's frost, or summer's sultry beam — By day, by night — without a pause — thy wave, with loud acclaim, In ceaseless sounds, have still proclaimed the Great Eternal's name. For whether on thy forest banks, the Indian of the wood, Or since his days, the Red Man's foe, on his father-land have stood — Whoe'er has seen thine incense rise, or heard thy toirent roar, Must have bent before the God of All ! to worship and adore. Accept then, O Supremrly Great ! — Infinite 1—0 God 1 Fi'om this primeval altar — the green and virgin sod — The humble homage that my soul in gi'atitude would pay To Thee ! whose shield has guarded me through all my wandering way. For if the Ocean be as nought in the hollow of thy hand. And the Stars of the bright firmament, in thy balance grains of sand, If Niagara's rolling flood seem great to us who lowly bow — O ! Great Creator of the Whole ! how passing great art Thou ! Yot though Thy Power is greater than the finite mind can scan, Still greater is thy Mercy — shown to weak dependent man. For him Thou clothed the fertile field with herb, and fruit, and seed, For him, the woods, the lakes, the seas, supply his hourly need. Around — on high — or far — or near — the Universal Whole Proclaims Thy glory, as the orbs in their fixed courses roll ; And from Creation's grateful voice, the hymn ascends above. While heaven re-echoes back to earth, the chorus, " God is Love." It was with difficulty and reluctance that I tore myself away at last from the spot ; and as all the way of our return was in sight of the magnificent Cataract, and the thunder of its fall was heard incessantly, and even felt by the tremulation of the floors, the windows, and slightly of the bed on which we lay, it was hardly to be wondered at that I should dream intensely of what had so powerfully impressed me during my waking hours ; and that the view of its falling masses, and BUCKINGHAM'S TRAVELS. 4>3 the sound of its rushing torrents, should be as distinctly before my sight, and within my hearing, " in the visions of the night, when deep sleep cometh upon man," as they were during the day, when every faculty of my mind and heart was absorbed in the most profound and silent admiration. The succeeding morning opened with rain, the only aspect under which we had not seen the Falls ; and though it con- fined us to the hotel during the early part of the day, we were enabled to continue our excursions in the evening, and had not therefore much cause for regret. One efifect of the rain was to produce a much greater appearance of mist rising from the bottom of the Fall, the column or cloud exceeding soine- times 100 feet above its ordinary line of height. Another effect, produced by the strong west wind that blew, was to accelerate the speed of the current above the Falls, and conse- quently to send a much larger volume of water over both. We were assured, by those who constantly reside here, that an easterly wind keeps back the current, and a westerly one accelerates it, to a degree sufficient to make a difference of from 20 to 30 feet in the elevation of the surface in the Strait below. This we could readily believe from the increased fury of the rapids above, whose waves were much more lofty, and their foam a more continuous and unbroken white than yesterday, while the mass of waters rolling over the upper edge of the Falls, seemed to leap farther out from the rock, and plunge with greater force into the stream below, from which, by this increased impetus of descent, and the general moisture of the upper atmosphere combined, the mist rose in clouds so thick, as sometimes to veil the surface of the Cataract, and then become gradually transparent like a thin sheet of the finest muslin. At intervals when the sun shone out, the rainbows at the feet of both the Falls were splendid, sometimes stationary, arched, and of the most vivid and clearly-defined colours ; at others, )>resenting a sort of rainbow clouds, where bodies of mist would have all the pris- matic rays marked on them, but in a floating and undulating series of curves, advancing and receding, so as to form a D 2 44 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA . wavy line, in perpetual motion, as if some colossal serpent of the mist was straining to ascend perpendicularly over the cliff; and waving the folds of his body in that undulating motion called serpentine, reflecting the prismatic rays from every part as it moved ; it was altogether an unusual and most brilliant sight, and an ample compensation for the rainy morning in which it was seen. In the evening as we sat in the balcony of the Clifton Hotel, enjoying the grandeur of both the Falls, amidst the obscurity of an unusally dark night, the white masses of each being just visible, with bright scintillations at one moment, and then the softened haze of the rising mist at another, several rockets and other fireworks were let off on the American side, which, for a moment, illumined the darkness, and as the fragments of the exploded rockets descended M'ith their brilliant stars into the very centre of the Cataracts, the effect was strikingly beautiful. The longer I gazed upon this sublime scene, the more powerfully I felt the force of that fascination which bound me like a spell to the spot ; and I could readily believe that a few hours of silent and uninterrupted feeling, like this, would occasion such a high degree of nervous excitement, as to induce the wish to plunge into the stream, and be floated over on its gorgeous billows. I remember no other sight in the world that ever wrought upon my imagination or my feel- ings half so powerfully as this, and we were rather glad that we had made our arrangements for returning to the other side by noon, so that we were forced to leave sooner than we should otherwise have done, a scene which will never be obliterated from my memory. "Colonel Wliittlesey, in a geological survey of the "Western Reserve of Ohio, or south shore of Lake Erie, states, that the whole of that region forms, to the south, a vast undulating table-land 500 feet high, which, as it approaches to a line within five miles of the lake, breaks off by a sudden precipice parallel with the lake, and forming without doubt, what was once the southern shore of the extended basin of the lake. Buckingham's travels. 45 This ridge, we liave no question, is continuous witli a precisely similar formation observed on Niagara river, at Queenstown, and Lewiston, where the table-land, on either side level with Lake Erie above, abruptly falls some 300 feet, and is traceable from Lewiston, on tlie American side, for more than one hundred miles parallel with, and from five to ten miles from, the shore of Lake Ontario. We have no question that this ridge, known in our state as the beautiful natural turn- pike, called the Ridge Road, could be traced to the head of the St. Lawrence, at the Thousand Isles, or commencement of the rapids — perhaps more probably, to the Heights of Abraham and Falls of Montmorency. At this latter, and soon up to the Thousand Isles above, some mighty rupture of the rocky beds beneath seems to have occurred by a convulsion of nature, and thus furnished a passage or drain for the Upper Lakes, into the Atlantic. Hence the reception of the Avaters of Ontario, which, until then, were continuous with Erie, and extended over the whole level region of the North Canada shore. " The time when this convulsionoccurred, must have been simultaneous with the production of the Falls of Niagara, wliich until then were a part of the shores of the two lakes, which here silently commingled their Avaters, until the sudden rupture and draining below, threw the momentum of the mighty flood from the now table-land, and then lake- bed, at Queenstown, down the high precipice or naked shore, and thus excavated for themselves the deep channel of Niagara River from this point to the diminished basin of Ontario — leaving the mighty wonder behind, for the admira- tion of the world. From Queenstown, the Falls in course of time, by gradually, as they now hourly do, breaking off the soft shelving or calcareous rock, worked their way naturally up to their present position, seven miles above, and will ulti- mately penetrate into Lake Erie, when another draining will take place of Erie, Huron, and Michigan — both which latter are also doubtless diminished basins — up to the Sault St. Marie, or Low Falls, which divides these lower lakes from the 46 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. great inland sea of Lake Superior. When that event occurs, another Niagara will in the same way be formed at this passage into Lake Superior. And so the mighty work will proceed, until oui' lakes, which none of them have great rivers of their own to supply the present constant draining by the St. Lawrence, and by evaporation, will shrink to minor pools, leaving, ultimately, their rich beds bare, to become the seats of civilization, and of a vast population. " These reflections might be extended to the more ancient period designated by Dr. Mitchell, when the lakes were all one continuous vast sea, bounded on the south-east by the chain of the Alleghannies, and through which the first great ruptures into the Atlantic, and the first draiuings. Mere made by the passages excavated through the mountain-chain at various places, the Highlands of the Hudson, the Gap of the Delaware, the Blue Ridge at the junction of the Shenandoah with the Potomac, the passage of the Tenessee through the Cumberland mountains, &c." NIAGARA.— BY TYRONE POWER, ESQ.* 1836. (From his "Impressions of America.") I FELT interested with Buffalo, and had promised myself much pleasure from a visit to the country occupied by a branch of the Seneca tribes in its neighbourhood; but Niagara was now within a few hours — the great object of the journey was almost in sight. I was for ever fancying that I lieard the sound of the " Thunder Water "f booming on the breeze ; so, with a restlessness and anxiety not to be sur- passed, I got into the coach on the day after my arrival at the capital of the lakes, and was in a short time set down on the bank of the swift river Niagara, at the ferry, which is * The celebrated delineator of Irish Characters ; and who was unfortunately lost in the ship President, on her return voyage from America. t The Indian name " Niagara " signifies Thunder- VTater. TYRONE POWER. 47 some four miles from Buffalo. We found the little rapids about the shore occupied by fishers of all ages, who required but a small share of the patience which is deemed so essential to the followers of this melancholy sport, for they were pull- ing the simple wretches out as fast as the lines could be baited and offered. The shipment was quickly effected, and in a few minutes our faces were turned from the dominion of the States. The vessel was a large horse-boat; that is, a flat propelled by paddle-wheels similar to those of a steam-boat, only wrought by horse-power — an animal-treadmill in fact. On the larboard gangway of our flat the American jack floated, and over the starboard side waved the Union flag of Old England ; they fluttered proudly side by side, a worthy brotherhood, and so united may they long be found ! The ride along the Canada shore was very fine, the noble stream being constantly in sight. We halted to water the team at a public-house that stands upon the ground where was fought the battle of Chippewa, which, as the Yankees say, " eventuated just no-how." From this house the eternal mist caused by the great Fall may be plainly seen curling like a vast body of light smoke, and shooting occasionally in spiral columns high above the tree-tops ; but not a sound told of its neighbourhood, though we were not five miles distant from it, and the day was calm and clear. At about three miles from this, as the vehicle slowly ascended a rise, I heard for the first time the voice of the many waters, and called the attention of my friends within the carriage to the sound. Never let any impatient man set out for Niagara in one of these coaches ; a railroad could hardly keep pace with one's eagerness, and here Ave were crawling at the rate of four miles per hour. I fancied that the last three miles never would be accom- plished ; and often wished internally, as I beat the devil's tattoo upon the footboard, that I had bought or stolen a horse at Chippewa, and galloped to the wonder alone and silently. 48 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. At length the hotel came in view^ and I knew that the rapid was close at hand. "Now, sir, look out !" quietly said the dinver. I almost determined upon shutting my eyes or turning away my head ; but I do not think it would have been within the compass of my will so to have governed them ; for even at this distant moment, as I write, I find my pen move too slow to keep pace with the recollections of the impatience which I seek to record. It was at the moment we struck the foot of the hill lead- ing up to the hotel, that the rapid and the great Horse-Shoe Fall became \'isible over the sunken trees to our right, almost on a level with us. I have heard people talk of having felt disappointed on a first view of this stupendous scene : by what process they arrived at this conclusion, I profess myself utterly incapable of divining, since even now that two years have almost gone by, I find on this point my feehngs are not yet to be analyzed; I dare not trust myself to their guidance, and only know that my wildest imaginings were forgotten in contemplating this awful reality. A very few minutes after we were released from the confinement of the ooach, saw myself and companions upon the Table-rock ; and soon after we were submitting to the equipment provided by a man resident upon the spot, for persons who choose to penetrate beneath the great Fall, and whose advertisement assured us that the gratification of curiosity was unattended with either inconvenience or danger, as water-proof dresses Avere kept in readiness, together with an experienced guide. The water-proof dress given me I found still wet through; and on the arrival of the experienced guide, I was not a little surprised to see the fellow, after a long stare in my face, exclaim, " Och, blood an' 'oons ! Mr. Power, sure it's not yer honour that's come all this way from home \" An explanation took place ; when I found that our guide, whom I had seen some two years before as a helper in the stable of my hospitable friend Smith Barry, at Floaty, was TYRONE POWER. 49 this summer promoted to tlie office of '' Conductor/' as he styled himself, under the waterfall. And a most whimsical " conductor" he proved. His cautions and his " divils a fears \" and " not a hap'orth of danger \" must have been mighty assuring to the timid or nervouSj if any such ever make this experiment, which, although perfectly safe, is not a little startling. His directions, — when we arrived at the point where the mist, pent in beneath the overhanging rock, makes it impos- sible to distinguish anything, and where the rush of air is so violent as to render respiration for a few seconds almost im- practicable — were inimitable. " Now, yer honour !" he shouted in my ear — for we moved in Indian file, — " whisper the next gentleman to follow you smart ; and for the love o' God ! shoulder the rock close, stoop yer heads, and shut fast yer eyes, or you wont be able to see an inch!" I repeated my orders verbatim, though the cutting Aviud made it difficult to open one's mouth. " Now then, yer honour," he cried, cowering down as he spoke, " do as you see me do; hould yer breath, and scurry after like divils ! " With the last word he bolted, and was out of sight in an instant. I repeated his directions, however, to the next in file, and, as directed, scurried after. This rather difficult point passed, I came upon my country- man waiting for us within the edge of the curve described by this falling ocean ; he grasped my wrist firmly as I emerged from the dense drift, and shouted in my ear — " Luk up, sir, at the green sea that's rowlin 'over us ! Murdur ! bud iv it only was to take a shlope in on us !" Here we could see and breathe with perfect ease ; and even the ludicrous gestures and odd remarks of my poetical countryman could not wholly rob the scene of its striking grandeur. I next passed beyond my guide as he stood tiptoe against the rock, upon a ledge on which we trod, and under his direction attained that limit, beyond which the foot of 50 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. man never pressed. I sat for one moment on tlie Termi- nation Rockj and then followed my guide back to my com- panions, when together we once more " scurried" into day. " Isn't it illigant, sir ?" began the " Conductor " as soon as we were well clear of the mist. "Isn't it a noble sight intirely? Caps the world for grandness any way, that's sartain V I need hardly say that in this opinion we all loudly joined ; but Mr. Conductor was not yet done with us, — he had now to give us a taste of his " larnin'." " I wish ye'd take notice, sir," said he, pointing across the river with an air of authority and a look of infinite wisdom. " Only take a Ink at the Falls ; now ye may see Avid your own eyes that Shakespere is out altogether about the descrip- tion.'' '' How's that, Pat," inquired I, although not a little taken aback by the authority so gravely quoted by my critical friend. '' Why, sir, Shakespere first of all says that there 's two Falls ; now, ye may see wid yer own eyes that it' s one river sure, and one Fall, only for the shript o'rock that makes two af id." This I admitted was evident; whilst Pat gravely went on : " Thin agin, only Ink here, sir ; Shakespere says, ' The cloud-capt tower ;' why, if he'd ever taken the trouble to luk at it, he'd seen better than that ; an' if he wasn't a fool — which I'm sure he wasn't, bein' a grand poet, — he'd know that the clouds never can rise to cap the tower, by reason that it stands up above the Fall, and that the current for ever sets down." Again I agreed with him, excusing Shakespere's discrep- ancies on the score of his never having had a proper gu de to explain these matters. " I don't know who at all showed him the place," gravely responded Pat ; " but it 's my belief he never was in id at all at all, though the gintleman that tould me a heap more about it swears for sartin that he was." THE FERRY. 51 This last remark, and the important air with which the doubt was conveyed, proved too much for ray risible faculties, already suffering some constraint, and I fairly roared out in concert with my companion, who had been for some time con- vulsed with laughter. The next morning at an early hour I rcAdsited the '^ Termination Rock," but excused myself from being accompanied by the " Conductor." I next wandered down the stream, and had a delightful bath in it. Accom- panied by a friend, I was pulled in a skiff as close to the Fall as possible, and in short performed all the observances that have been suggested and practised by curiosity or idleness ; but in all these I found no sensation equal to a long quiet contemplation of the mass entire, not as viewed from the balconies of the hotel, but from some rocky point or woody shade, where house, and fence, and man, and^ all his petty doings were shut out, and the eye left calmly to gaze upon the awful scene, and the rapt mind to raise its thoughts to Him who loosed this eternal flood, and guides it harmless as the petty brook. There never should have been a house per- mitted within sight of the Fall at least. How I have envied those who first sought Niagara, through the scarce-trod wilderness, with the Indian for a guide ; and who slept upon its banks with the summer-trees for their only shelter, with the sound of its waters for their only reveille. THE FERRY— CANADA VIEWS— CITY OF TPIE FALLS. There is another staircase leading down the bank^ about six rods below the Falls, where visitors will find a safe ferry to the Canada side, and have an opportunity of viewing a scene of surpassing grandeur. The deep-green glassy river beneath, the awful precipice of rocks, and the mighty floods rolling and tumbling from the heights above, and the singularly wild, romantic, and variegated scenery around, fill the mind of the beholder with sensations not to be described. Here one 53 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. may perceive the propriety and beauty of the figure repre- senting Him, who is the " Rock of Ages/' as " the shadow of a great rock in a weary hind/' to those who fly to him for refuge. " While viewing thee I think how grand and beautiful is God, When man has not intruded on his works, But left his bright creation unimpaired. Blessed scenes ! it is no mortal touch That sharpened thy rough brow, or fringed thy skirts With coarse luxuriance ; — 'twas the lightning's force Daslied its strong flash across thee, and did point The crag ; or, with his stormy thunderbolt, The Almighty Architect himself disjoined Yon rock ; then flung it down where now it hangs, And said — do thou lie there." The ferryman, j\Ir. S. L. Ware, on the American, and Mr. J. Shultersburgh, on the Canada side, are both very civil and accommodating, well acquainted with their business, and able to give much information to visitors. Whenever required, they take parties out on pleasure or fishing excursions, and thus enable them to take a more extensive view of the gorgeous river-scenery. The construction of a carriage-road is contemplated, down these perpendicular banks, so as to have a ferry for teams and carriages; and when it is completed, must become a great and important thoroughfare for travellers. Directly opposite the Falls on the Canada side, an enter- prising Company, a few years since, purchased the grounds formerly owned by Mr. Forsyth, projected and laid out a city, which they called " The City of the Falls," and have made some improvements. They intended to have schools, churches, libraries, ball and promenade rooms, baths, public gardens, and indeed every thing considered necessary to an elegant and fashionable city. Tlie lots and streets are laid out with much judgment and taste ; but whether the antici- pations of the enterprising projectors will ever be realized, other generations must tell. CANADA VIEWS CITY OF THE FALLS. 53 The table-land on the river's bank below the Falls, and opposite the ferry, owned by Captain Creighton, lias also been surveyed into lots for a village, which is called " Clifton ;" and here, directly at the top of the ferry-road, stands the Clifton House, erected by Mr. Chrysler, which contains upwards of sixty rooms, and will accommodate nearly one hundred guests. This is a very delightful site for a village, and is one of the most pleasant places of resort on that side of the river. The following stanza of Byron, is beautifully descriptive of this place : " From thy shady brow, Thou small, but favoured spot of holy grouud ! Where'er we gaze, around, above, below, What rainbow tints, what magic charms are found ! Rock, river, forest, mountain, all abound, And bluest skies that harmonize the whole ; Beneath, the distant torrent's rushing sound Tells where the volumed cataract doth roll Between those hanging rocks, that shock yet please the soul." In ascending the high bank the visitor is presented with some delightful views of the Falls and rapids, and of the sur- rounding country. The two principal hotels on the Canada side, are the Ontario House, on the high bank nearly opposite the great Fall, and the Clifton House, at the head of the carriage-road, both of which have ample accommodations. The Pavilion was totally destroyed by fire, in February, 1839. Strangers who have never visited the Falls, have an idea that the surrounding country must be mountainous, like that in the vicinity of most other Falls ; but the general aspect of the country here for a great extent on both sides of the river, above and below, is that of an almost perfect level, and nothing indicates the existence of the river or the Falls, except the constantly ascending and floating mist, and a sub- terraneous, thundering roar. Below the Falls, the earth and rocks appear as though they had been suddenly rent asimder and separated one-fourth of a mile apart, in order, by the 54 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. perpendicular chasm thus mads, to form a channel for the river. The corresponding portions of rock are as regiilar in the succession of their strata, as would be the leaves and cover of a book, if they were bisected and placed opposite each other. The whole country in Canada, between the two lakes, except a narrow strip bordering upon Lake Ontario, is generally level, rich and productive, and is also becoming quite populous. In visiting the Canada side, you can cross the river at Black Rock, Lewiston, or at the Falls; and can always have carriages on that side, to transport you whither you choose. Stage-coaches run from the Hotels to Queenston and Niagara, daily; also to Chippewa and Buffalo. From Chippewa, the steam- boat Red Jacket runs daily to Buffalo, leaving Chippewa in the afternoon. No one should fail of visiting the Canada side, as this grand and unparalleled scene of nature's won- ders, the fame whereof is spread over the world, should be viewed and contemplated from every position. NIAGARA.— BY WILLIS, IN 1835. " He was born when the Crab was ascending, And all his affairs go backward." — Love for Love. It was in my senior vacation, and I was bound to Niagara for the first time. My companion was a specimen of the human race found rarely in Vermont, and never elsewhere. He was nearly seven feet high, walked as if every joint in his body was in a hopeless state of dislocation, and was hideously, ludicrously, and painfully ugly. This whimsical exterior contained the conscious spirit of Apollo, and the poetical susceptibility of Keats. He had left his plough in the green mountains at the age of twenty-five, and entered as a poor student at the University, where, with the usual policy of a college government, he was allotted WILLIS. 55 to me as a compulsory chum, on the principle of breakirig- in a colt with a cart-horse. I began with laughing at him, and ended with loving him. He rejoiced in the common appellation of Job Smith — a synonymous soubriquet, as I have elsewhere remarked, which was substituted by his classmates for his baptismal name of Forbearance. Getting Job away with infinite difficulty from a young Indian girl who was selling moccasins in the streets of Buffalo, (a straight, slender creature of eighteen, stepping about like a young leopard, cold, stern, and beautiful,) we crossed the outlet of Lake Erie at the ferry, and took horses on the northern bank of Niagara river, to ride to the Falls. It was a noble stream, as broad as the Hellespont, and as blue as the sky, and I could not look at it, hurrying ou headlong to its fearful leap, without a feeling almost of dread. There was only one thing to which Job was more suscep- tible than to the beauties of nature, and that was the beauty of woman. His romance had been stirred by the lynx-eyed Siouse, who took her money for the moccasins with such haughty and thankless superbia, and full five miles of the river, with all the gorgeous flowers and rich shrubs upon its brim, might as well have been Lethe for his admiration. The roar of the Falls was soon audible, and Job's enthusiasm and my own, if the increased pace of our Naragansett ponies meant anything, were fully aroused. The river broke into rapids, foaming furiously on its course, and the subterranean thunder increased like a succession of earthquakes, each louder than the last. I had never heard a sound so broad and universal. It was impossible not to suspend the breath, and feel absorbed, to the exclusion of all other thoughts, in the great phenomenon with which the world seemed trembling to its centre. A tall misty cloud, changing its shape continually, as it felt the shocks of the air, rose up before us, and with our eyes fixed upon it, and our horses at a hard gallop, we found ourselves unexpectedly in front of a vast white — hotel ! which suddenly interposed between the cloud and our vision. Job slapped his legs against the 56 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. sides of liis panting beast, and urged him on, but a long fence on eitber side tbe immense building, cut hira off from all approach; and having assured ourselves that there was no access' to Niagara, except through the back-door of the gentleman's house, who stood Avith his hat off to receive us, we wished no good to his Majesty^s province of Upper Canada, and dismounted, " Will you visit the Falls before dinner, gentlemen ?" asked mine host. "No, sir V thundered Job, in a voice that, for a moment, stopped the roar of the cataract. He was like an improvisatore, who had been checked by some rude birbone in the very crisis of his eloquence. He would not have gone to the Falls that night to have saved the world. We dined. As it was the first meal we had ever eaten under a monarchy, I proposed the health of the king ; but Job refused it. There was an impertinent profanity, he said, in fencing up the entrance to Niagara, that was a greater encroachment on natural liberty than the stamp-act. He would drink to no king or parliament under which such a thing could be conceived possible. I left the table, and walked to the window. " Job, come here ! Miss , by all that is lovely \" He flounced up like a snake touched by a torpedo, and sprang to the window. Job had never seen the lady whose name produced such a sensation, but he had heard more of her than of Niagara. So had every soul of the fifteen millions of inhabitants between us and the Gulf of Mexico. She was one of those miracles of nature that occur, perhaps, once in the rise and fall of an empire — a woman of the perfect beauty of an angel, with the most winning human sweetness of character and manner. She was kind, playful, unaffected, and radiantly, gloriously beautiful. I am sorry I may not mention her name, for in more chivalrous times she would have been a character of histor}^ Everybody who has been in America, however, will know whom I am ^VILLIS. 57 describing, and I ain sorry for those who have not. The country of Washington will be in its decadence before it sees such another. She had been to the Fall, and was returning with her mother and a troop of lovers, who, I will venture to presume, brought away a very imperfect impression of the scene, I would describe her as she came laughing up that green bank, unconscious of everything but the pleasure of life in a summer's sun-set; but I leave it for a more skilful hand. The authoress of " Hope Leslie " will, perhaps, mould her image into one of her inimitable heroines. I presented my friend, and we passed the evening in her dangerous company. After making an engagement to ac- company her in the morning behind the sheet of the Falls, we said good-night at twelve — one of us at least as many " fathom deep in love," as a thousand Rosalinds. My poor chum ! The roar of the cataract, that shook the very roof over thy head, was less loud to thee that night than the beating of thine own heart, I warrant me ! I rose at sun- rise to go alone to the Fall, but Job was before me, and the angular outline of his gaunt figure, stretching up in strong relief against the white body of the spray, was the first object that caught my eye as I descended. As I came nearer the Fall, a feeling of disappointment came over me. I had imagined Niagara a vast body of water descending as if from the clouds. The approach to most Falls is from below, and we get an idea of them as of rivers pitching down to the plain from the brow of a hill or mountain. Niagara river, on the contrary, comes out from Lake Erie through a flat plain. The top of the cascade is ten feet perhaps below the level of the country ai'ound, consequently invisible from any considerable dis- tance. You walk to the bank of a broad and rapid river, and look over the edge of a rock, where the outlet flood of an inland sea seems to have broken through the crust of the earth, and, by its mere weight, plunged with an awful leap into an immeasurable and resounding abyss. It seems £ 58 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. to strike and tlmnder upon tlie very centre of the world, and the ground beneath your feet quivers with the shock till you feel unsafe upon it. Other disappointment than this I cannot conceive at Niagara. It is a spectacle so awful, so beyond the scope and power of any other phenomenon in the world, that I think people who are disappointed there, mistake the incapacity of their own conception for the want of grandeur in the scene. The " hell of waters " below, needs but a little red ochre to ovit-phlegethon Phlegethon. I can imagine the surprisp of the gentle element, after sleeping away a se^nnight of moonlight in the peaceful bosom of Lake Erie/ at finding itself of a sudden in such a coil ! A Mediterranean sea-gull, which had tossed out the whole of a January in the infernal " yeast " of the Archipelago, (was I not all but wrecked every day between Troy and Malta, in a score of successive hurricanes?) — I say, the most weather-beaten of sea-birds would look twice before he ventured upon the roaring caldron below Niagara. It is astonishing to see how far the descending mass is driven under the surface of the stream. As far down towards I^ake Ontario as the eye can reach, the immense volumes of water rise like huge monsters to the light, boiling and flashing out in rings of foam, with an appearance of rage and anger that I have seen in no other cataract in the world. "A nice Fall, as an Englishman would say, my dear Job." " Awful V Walleck, the American poet, (a better one never "" strung pearls,") has written some admirable verses on Niagara, describing its effects on the different individuals of a mixed party, among whom was a tailor. The sea of incident that has broken over me in years of travel, has washed out of my memory all but two lines descriptive of its impression upon Snip : — " The tailor made one single note — Gods ! what a place to sponge a coat !" WILLIS. 59 " Shall we go to breakfast, Job ?" " How slowly and solemnly they drop into the abysm \" It was not an original remark of Mr. Smith's. Nothing is so surprising to the observer as the extraordinary deliber- ateness with which the waters of Niagara take their tremen- dous plunge. All hurry, and foam, and fret, till they reach the smooth limit of the curve — and then the laws of gravitation seem suspended, and, like Caesar, they pause, and determine, since it is inevitable, to take the death-leap with becoming diguit3% " Shall we go to breakfast. Job ?" I was obliged to raise my voice, to be heard, to a pitch rather exhausting to an empty stomach. His eyes remained fixed upon the shifting rainbows bend- ing and vanishing in the spray. There was no moving him, and I gave in for another five minutes. " Do you think it probable, Job, that the waters of Niagara strike on the axis of the world ?" No answer. "Job!" " What ?" " Do you think his Majesty's half of the cataract is finer than ours V " Much." '^For tt'c/er, mereh', perhaps. But look at the delicious verdure on the American shore, the glorious trees, the mass'd foliage, the luxuriant growth even to the very rim of the ravine ! By Jove ! it seems to me, things grow better in a republic. Did you ever see a more barren or scraggy shore than the one you stand upon." " How exquisitely," said Job, soliloquising, " that small srreen island divides the Fall ! What a rock it must be founded on, not to have been washed away in the ages that these waters have split against it !" " I'll lay you a bet it is washed away before the year two thousand — payable in any currency with which we may then be conversant." E 2 60 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. > " Don't trifle \" " With time, or geology, do you mean ? Isn't it perfectly clear from the looks of that ravine, that Niagara has backed up all the way from Lake Ontario? these rocks are not adamant, and the very precipice* you stand on has cracked, and looks ready for the plmige. It must gradually wear back to Lake Erie, and then there will be a sweep. I should like to live long enough to see. The instantaneous junction of two seas, with a diff'erence of two hundred feet in their level, will be a spectacle — eh. Job ?" " Tremendous V " Do you intend to wait and see it, or will you come to breakfast ?" He was immovable. I left him on the rock, went up to the hotel, and ordered mutton-chops and coffee, and when they were on the table gave two of the waiters a dollar each to bring him up nolens volens. He arrived in a great rage, but with a good appetite, and we finished our breakfast just in time to meet Miss , as she stepped like Aurora from her chamber. It is necessary to a reputation for prowess in the United States to have been behind the sheet of the Fall (supposing you to have been to Niagara.) This achievement is equivalent to a hundred shower-baths, one severe cold, and being drowned twice — but most people do it. We descended to the bottom of the precipice at the side of the Fall, where we found a small house, furnished with coarse linen dresses for the purpose, and having arranged ourselves in habiliments not particularly improving to our natural beauty, we re-appeared — only three out of a party of ten having had the courage to trust their attractions to such a trial. Miss looked like a fairy in disguise, and Job hke the most ghostly and diabolical monster that ever stalked unsepultured abroad. He would frighten a cliild in « It has since fallen iuto tlie abyss — fortunately in the night, as visitors were always upon it during the day. The noise was heard at an incredible distance. WILLIS. 61 his best black suit— l)ut with a pair of wet linen trousers scarce reaching to his knees, a jacket with sleeves shrunk to the elbows, and a white cap, he was something super- naturally awful. We quite hesitated about going under the Fall with him. It looked rather appalling. Our way lay through a dense descending sheet of water, along a slender pathway of rocks, broken into small fragments, with an overhanging wall on one side, and the boiling caldron of the cataract on the other. A false step, and you were a subject for the " shock- ing accident" maker. The guide went first, taking Miss 's right hand. She gave me her left, and Job brought up the rear, as they say in Connecticut, " on his own hook." We picked our way boldly up to the water. The wall leaned so much, and the fragmented declivity was so narrow and steep, that, if it had not been done before, I should have turned back at once; two steps more, and the small hand in mine began to struggle violently, and, in the same instant, the torrent beat into my mouth, eyes, and nostrils, and I felt as if I was drowning. I staggered a blind step forward, but still the water poured into my nostrils, and the conviction rushed for a moment on my mind that we were lost. I struggled for breath, stumbled forward, and, with a gasp that I thought Avas my last, sunk, upon the rocks within the descending waters. Job tumbled over me the next instant, and as soon as I could clear my eyes sufficiently to look about me, I saw the guide sustaining Miss , who had been as nearly drowned as most of the subjects of the Humane Society, but was apparently in a state of resuscitation. None but the half-drowned know the pleasure of breathing. Here we were within a chamber that Undine might have coveted, a wall of rock at our back, and a transparent curtain of shift- ing water between us and the world, having entitled our- selves a peu pres to the same reputation with Hylas and Leander, for seduction by the NaVads. Whatever sister of Arethusa inhabits there, Ave could but congratulate her on 63 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. the beauty of her abode. A lofty and well-lighted hall, shaped like a long pavilion, extending as far as we could see through the spray, and with the two objections that you could not have heard a pistol at your ear for the noise, and that the floor was somewhat precipitous, one would scarce imagine a more agreeable retreat for a gentleman who was disgusted with the world, and subject to dryness of the skin. In one respect it resembled the enchanted dwelling of the Witch of Atlas, where Shelley tells us, — " The invisible rain did ever sing A silver music on the mossy lawn." It is lucky for Witches and Naiads that they are not subject to rheumatism. The air was scarcely breathable — (if air it may be called, which streams down the face with the density of a shower from a watering-pot,) and our footing upon the slippery rocks was so insecure, that the exertion of continually wiping our eyes was attended with imminent danger. Our sight was valuable, for, surely, never was such a brilliant curtain hung up to the sight of mortals, as spread apparently from the zenith to our feet, changing in thickness and lustre, but with a constant and resplendent curve. It was what a child might imagine the arch of the sky to be when it bends over the edge of the horizon. The sublime is certainly very much diluted when one con- templates it with his back to a dripping and shiny rock, and his person saturated with a continual supply of water. From a dry window, I think the infernal writhe and agony of the abyss into which we were continually liable to slip, would liave been as fine a thing as I have seen in my travels ; I am free to admit, that, at the moment, I would have exchanged my experience and all the honour attached to it for a dry escape. The idea of droivnlng back through that thick column of water, was at least a damper to enthusiasm. We seemed cut off from the living. There was a death between us and the vital air and sunshine. I was screwing up my «ourage for the return, when the guide seized me by the WILLIS. 63 shoulder. I looked around, and wliat was my horror to see Miss standing far in behind the sheet upon the last visible point of rock, with the water pouring over her in torrents, and a gulf of foam between us, which I could in no way understand how she had passed over. She seemed frightened and pale, and the guide explained to me by signs, (for I could not distinguish a syllable through the roar of the cataract,) that she had walked over a narrow ledge which had broken with her weight. A long fresh mark upon the rock at the foot of the precipitous wall, made it sufficiently evident. Her position was most alarming. I made a sign to her to look well to her feet ; for the little island she stood upon was green with slirae and scarce larger than a hat, and an abyss of full six feet wide, foaming and unfathomable, raged between it and the nearest foothold. What was to be done ? Had we a plank, even, there was no possible hold for the further extremity, and the shape of the rock was so conical, that its slippeiy surface evidently would not hold a rope for a moment. To jump to her, even if it were possible, would endanger her life, and while I was smiling and encouraging the beautiful creature, as she stood trem- bling and pale on her dangerous foothold, I felt my very heart sink within me. The despairing guide said something which I could not hear, and disappeared through the watery wall, and I fixed my eyes upon the lovely form, standing like a spirit in the misty shroud of the spray, as if the intensity of my gaze could sustain her upon her dangerous foothold. I would have given ten years of my life at that moment to have clasped her hand in mine. I had scarce thought of Job until I felt him trying to pass behind me. His hand was trembling as he laid it on my shoulder to steady his steps ; but there was something in his ill-hewn features that shot an indefinite ray of hope through my mind. His sandy hair was plastered over his forehead, and his scant dress clung to him like a skin ; but though I recall his image noiv with a smile, I looked upon him with a feeling far enough fi-om amusement then. God bless thee, 6-4 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. my dear Job ! wherever in this unfit world thy fine spirit may be fulfilling its destiny ! He crept down carefully to the edge of the foaming abyss, till he stood Avith the breaking bubbles at his knees. I was at a loss to know what he intended. She surely would not dare to attempt to jump to his arms from that slippery rock, and to reach her in any way seemed impossible. The next instant he threw himself forward ; and while I covered my eyes in horror, with the flashing conviction that he had gone mad and flung himself into the hopeless whirlpool to reach her, she had crossed the awful gulf, and lay tremb- ling and exhausted at my feet ! He had thrown himself over the chasm, caught the rock barely with the extremities of his fingers, and with certain death, if he missed his hold or slipped from his uncertain tenure, had sustained her with supernatural strength as she walked over his body ! The guide providentially returned with a rope in the same instant, and fastening it around one of his feet, we dragged him back through the whirlpool ; and after a moment or two, to recover from the suffocating immersion, he fell on his knees, and we joined him, I doiibt not, devoutly, in his audible thanks to God. NIAGARA.— BY .FAMES STUART, ESQ., 1833. ( From " Three Years in North America. '') We distinctly heard the sound of the cataract, about ten miles from the Falls ; but it is often heard at a far greater distance in f ivourable states of the wind and atmosphere, even, it is said, thirty miles from them. The spray, appear- ing like a cloud of smoke, was visible at the distance of more than two miles. There is a steep wooden stair from the landing-place to the top of the bank on the American side, and from thence by the bridge over the rapids Goat Island is readily JAMES STUART. 65 approached. On tbe nortli side of that Island^ the rocks, projected into the river 200 or 300 feet immediately over the Falls, are accessible by a rough wooden bridge, below which the water rims with fearful velocity. From these rocks, the view over the precipice and great Fall is terrific, — absolutely appalling, although the prodigious mag- nitude of the trembling waters is not so apparent at this spot as from the Table Rock and the boat. I descended a spiral staircase, which conducts to the edge of the river, below the Table Rock, but did not proceed into the cavern below the rock. The ground was exceedingly slippery. A false step might have precipitated me into the abyss. The spray was driving in no small quantities into the cavern. Were it not for those serious obstacles impeding the approach, and which at all times exist to a considerable extent, the edge of the cavern would be the station, of all others the most sublime for contemplating this extraordinary sight. There is, how- ever, an excellent point of view, which the spray very often does not prevent the spectator from enjoying, somewhat nearer the Falls than the foot of the ladder, and there it is perhaps as Avell that cautious travellers should stop. The overwhelming sensations, with which a spectator can hardly fail to be affected, are produced by the immense flood, — -not less than 100 millions of tons of water per hour, — the stupendous mass and overpowering force of the roaring and falling waters. It is in truth a great deep ocean, thrown over a precipice nearly 160 feet high. Every thing, every surrounding object, is viewed with indifference, while the mind is wholly absorbed in the contemplation of a spec- tacle so sublime — surpassing in majesty and grandeur and power, all the works of nature which have ever arrested the attention, or presented themselves to the imagination. No just or adequate description can be conveyed by language. Such words as grandeur, majesty, sublimity, fail altogether to express the feelings which so magnificent a sight, exceed- ing so immeasurably all of the same kind that we have ever seen or imagined, excites. C6 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Dr. Hosack's Life of Clinton contains a letter from the late Governor Morris^ the American minister in France, to his friend, Mr. John Parish of Hamburg, giving an account of a journey he had been making in the State of New York. His allusion to the Falls of Niagara, in the following paragraph, seems to me exceedingly just, and to afford, as far as can be done by verbal description, the simplest, plainest, and most intelligible data for forming a conception of them : " To form," (says Mr. Morris,) " a faint idea of the cata- ract, imagine to yourself the Frith of Forth rushing wrath- full}^ down a deep descent, foaming over a perpendicular 175 feet high, then flowing away in the semblance of milk from a vast basin of emerald. Suppose, then, for the sake of greater accuracy, the Frith of Forth at Queen's-ferry, or rather that part of it interjected between Inch-Garvie Island and the north shore, where it is not quite so wide as the river Niagara at the top of the Falls, tumbling in mass over a precipitous rock 160 feet into an abyss, and you will then have some notion of the unparalleled, the petrifying influ- ence, with which the Falls of Niagara impress the beholder. But truly, as the poet says, the eye of man must see this miracle to comprehend it, or the feeling it produces. The great volume of water, of course, inclines very much forward in its descent, projecting about fifty feet from the base, and falls, for the most part of the perpendicular height, in an unbroken sheet of a dark-green colour, until it meets a cloud of spray ascending from the rocks below, in which it is lost to the eye. We were fortunate in having fine weather, — bright sun- shine, — when we were on the spot. The prismatic colours were always to be seen; and more than once we had rain- bows complete, of the most vivid colours, and peculiarly briUiant at sunrise, but of the beauty of which it is impos- sible to give any idea. " It is left alone," as Darby very correctly remarks, " in simple and sublime dignity, to im- press upon the soul a sense of majestic grandeur, which loss of life or intellect can alone obliterate, and the force of JAMES STUART. 67 which no language can convey. If towering mountains and craggy rocks surrounded Niagara^ much of its first effect would be lost. As it is, it is an image whose whole contour is at once seen, and the view unbroken by extraneous objects. Even sound is subservient to the impression made upon the heart. None is heard except the eternal war of the cataract. '^ The current for more than a mile above the Falls is so swift, that accidents not unfrequently happen from the fool- hardiness of persons attempting to cross the river in small boats, near that part of it where the rapids commence. Many sad recitals were given us ; but we took more pleasure in turning to the account of the almost miraculous escape of Chateaubriand from being thrown over the precipice, above the Falls themselves, — an instance of good fortune not unworthy of being noticed. " On his arrival he had repaired to the Fall, having the bridle of his horse twisted round his arm. While he was stopping to look down, a rattlesnake stirred among the neighbouring bushes, the horse was startled, reared, and ran back towards the abyss. He could not disengage his arm from the bridle, and the horse, more and more frightened, dragged him after him. His fore-legs were all but off the ground, and squatting on the brink of the precipice, he was upheld merely by the bridle. He gave himself up for lost, when the animal astonished at this new danger, threw himself forward with a pirouette, and sprang to a distance of ten feet from the edge of the precipice." Those who have dreamed that they were on the point of being thrown over a perpendicular cliff, and who awaking, find themselves well, and comfortably in bed, will be able to form some idea of the sensation of this celebrated person at such a time. The great lakes of the St. Lawrence contain a mass more than one-half the fresh water on this planet — the solid contents being, according to Darby, 1,547,011,792,360,000, and the superficial area in square miles being 72,930, a quantity, which would form a cubic, column of nearly twenty-two miles on each side. 68 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. WELLAND CANAL.— BROCK'S MONUMENT.— BURNING SPRING. Eight miles west from the Falls is tlie Welland Canal, connecting the waters of Lake Erie with Lake Ontario, and affording a passage for sloops and schooners of 125 tons burthen. This canal commences at Port Maitland, near the mouth of Grand River, on Lake Erie, 48 miles west of Buffalo. It runs in a straight line across Wainfleet Marsh, crosses the Chippewa river by means of an aqueduct, and enters Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Twelve- Mile Creek. It is 43 miles in length, 56 feet in width, and varies from 8 J to 16 feet in depth. The whole descent from one lake to another, 334 feet, is accomplished by means of 37 locks. At the deep-cut, on what is called the mountain-ridge, the excavation is 45 feet in depth; and 1,477,700 cubic feet of earth, and 1,890,000 cubic feet of rock were removed. The locks here are 22 by 100 feet, and west of this ridge they are 45 by 125 feet. The canal was commenced in the year 1824, and completed in five years, and cost over 1,000,000 dollars. A part of the stock is owned by individuals in the State of New York. The company own all the land along the line of the canal, including the hydraulic privileges; and another tract, containing about 16,000 acres, has been granted to them by the British Government. Six miles and a half north from the Falls, upon Queenston Heights, is General Brock's Monument, constructed of free- stone, 126 feet high, and admitting an ascent to the top by a flight of 170 winding steps. From this eminence, the country around, including the picturesque lake - and - river scenery, may be seen for fifty miles. The following is the inscription on this Monument : "The Legislature of Upper Canada has dedicated this Monument to the many civil and military serA^ces of the late Sir James Brock, Knight, Commander of the most Honorable Order of the Bath, Provincial Lieutenant- JIRS. JAMESON. 69 Governor and Major-General, commanding His Majesty's forces therein. He fell in action, on the 13th of October, 1812, honoured and beloved by those whom he governed, and deplored by his Sovereign, to whose services his life had been devoted. His remains are deposited in this vault, as also his Aid-de-Camp, Lieutenant-Colonel John McDonald, who died of his wounds the 14th of October, 1813, received the day before, in action.'' One mile above the Palls, near the rapids, on the Canada side, is the Burning Spring. This is in a state of constant ebullition, and from it issues a stream of sulphurated hydrogen gas, which quickly ignites on the touch of a candle, and burns with a brilliant flame. The spring is enclosed in a barrel, which collects the gas, and lets it through a tube inserted at the top. This gas might, without doubt, be communicated by pipes to neighbouring buildings, and sub- stituted for candles and lamps. The keeper of the spring, Mr. J. Conklin, expects a small fee from visitors, for his trouble. There are strong indications at this Spring of a bed of coal near, but no effort has yet been made to dis- cover it. NIAGARA IN WINTER.— BY MRS. JAMESON. January 29, 1837. Well ! I have seen these cataracts of Niagara, which have thTindered in my mind's ear ever since I can remember — which have been my " childhood's thought, my youth's desire," since first my imagination was awakened to wonder and to wish. I have beheld them ; and shall I whisper it to you ? — but, O tell it not among the Philistines ! — I wish I had not ! I wish they were still a thing to behold — a thing to be imagined, hoped, and anticipated — something to live for : — the reality has displaced from my mind an illusion far more magnificent than itself — I have no words for mv utter 70 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. disappointment ; yet I have not tbe presumption to suppose that all I have heard and read of Niagara is false or exag- gerated — that every expression of astonishment, enthusiasm, rjipture, is affectation or hyperbole. No ! it must be my own fault, Terni, and some of the Swiss cataracts leaping from their mountains, have affected me a thousand times more than all the immensity of Niagara. Oh, I could beat myself! and now there is no help! — the first moment, the first impression, is over — is lost ; though I should live a thousand years, long as Niagara itself shall roll, I can never see it again for the first time. Something is gone that cannot be restored. What has come over my soul and senses ? I am no longer Anna — I am metamorphosed — I am translated — I am an ass^s head, a clod, a wooden spoon, a fat weed growing on Lethe's bank, a stock, a stone, a petrifaction, — for have I not seen Niagara, the wonder of wonders; and felt — no words can tell what disappointment I But to take things in their order : We set off for the Falls yesterday morning, Avith the intention of spending the day there, sleeping, and returning the next day to Niagara. The distance is fourteen miles, by a road winding along the banks of the Niagara river, and over the Queenston heights ; and beautiful mu.st this land be in summer, since even now it is beautiful. The flower-garden, the trim shrubbery, the lawn, the meadow with its hedgerows, when frozen" up and wrapt in snow, always give me the idea of something not only desolate, but dead. Nature is the ghost of herself, and trails a spectral pall ; I always feel a kind of pity — a touch of melancholy — when at this season I have wandered among withered shrubs and buried flower-beds; but here in the wilderness, where nature is wholly independent of art, she does not die, nor yet mourn; she lies down to rest on the bosom of Winter, and the aged one folds her in his robe of ermine and jewels, and rocks her with his hurricanes, and hushes her to sleep. How still it was ! how calm, how vast the glittering white waste and the dark purple forests ! The sun shone out, and the sky was without a cloud; yet we saw MRS. JAMESO>f, 71 few people, and for many miles the hissing of our sleigh, as we flew along upon our dazzling path, and the tinkling of the sleigh-bells, Avere the only sounds we heard. When we were within foui' or five miles of the Falls, I stopped the sleigh from time to time to listen for the roar of the cataracts, but the state of the atmosphere was not favourable for the transmission of sound, and the silence was unbroken. Such was the deep, monotonous tranquillity which pre- vailed on every side — so exquisitel}'^ pure and vestal-like, the robe in which all nature lay slumbering about us, I could scarce believe that this whole frontier is not only remarkable for the prevalence of vice — but of dark and desperate crime. Mr. A , who is a magistrate, pointed out to me a lonely house by the wayside, where, on a dark stormy night in the preceding winter, he had surprised and arrested a gang of forgers and coiners ; it was a fearful description. For some time my patience had been thus beguiled — im- patience and suspense much like those of a child at a theatre before the curtain rises. My imagination had been so impressed by the vast height of the Falls, that I was con- stantly looking in an upward direction, when, as we came to the brow of a hill, my companion suddenly checked the horses, and exclaimed, " The Falls \'' I was not, for an instant, aware of their presence ; we were yet at a distance, looking down upon them ; and I saw at one glance a flat extensive plain ; the sun having with- drawn its beams for a moment, there was neither light, nor shade, nor colour. In the midst were seen the two great cataracts, but merely as a feature in the wide landscape. The sound was by no means overpowering, and the clouds of spray, which Fanny Butler called so beautifully the " everlasting incense of the waters,^' now condensed ere they rose by the excessive cold, fell round the base of the cataracts in fleecy folds, just concealing that furious embrace of the waters above, and the waters below. All the associa- 72 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. tions which in imagination I had gathered round the scene, its appalhng terrors, its soul-subduing beauty, power, and height, and velocity, and immensity, were all diminished in effect, or wholly lost. H; * * * I was quite silent — my very soul sank within me. On seeing my disappointment (written, I suppose, most legibly in my countenance,) my companion began to comfort me, by telling me of all those who had been disappointed on the first view of Niagara, and had confessed it. I did con- fess ; but I w^as not to be comforted. We held on our way to the Chfton Hotel, at the foot of the hill; most desolate it looked with its summer verandas and open balconies cumbered up with snow, and hung round with icicles — its forlorn empty rooms, broken windows, and dusty dinner- tables. The poor people who kept the house in winter had gathered themselves for warmth and comfort into a little kitchen, and, when we made our appearance, stared at us with a blank amazement, which showed what a rare thing was the sight of a visitor at this season. While the horses were cared for, I went up into the highest balcony, to com- mand a better view of the cataract ; a little Yankee boy, with a shrewd sharp face, and twinkling black eyes, acting as ray gentleman-usher. As I stood gazing on the scene, which seemed to enlarge upon my vision, the little fellow stuck his hands into his pockets, and looking up in my face, said, " You be from the old country, I reckon?^' " Yes." " Out over there, beyond the sea ?" " Yes." " And did you come all that way across the sea for these here Falls ?" ' " Yes." " My !" Then after a long pause, and eyeing me with a most comical expression of impudence and fun, he added, " Now do you know what them ere birds are, out yonder ?" MRS. JAMESON. 73 pointing to a number of gulls wliicli were hovering and sporting amid the spray, rising, and sinking, and Avheeling arovmd, appearing to dehght in playing on the verge of this "hell of waters,^' and almost dipping their wings into the foam. My eyes were, in truth, fixed on these fair, fearless creatures, and they had suggested already twenty fanciful similitudes, Avhen I was roused by his question, " Those birds ?" said I, " Why, ivhat are they ?" " Why, them 's Eagles V " Eagles 1" it was impossible to help laughing. " Yes,'' said the urchin, sturdily ; " and I guess you have none of them in the old country V "Not many eagles, my boy; but plenty of gulls!" and I gave him a pretty considerable pinch by the ear.* "Ay!" said he, laughing; "well, now you be dreadful smart — smarter than many folks that come here !" We now prepared to walk to the Crescent Fall, and I bound some crampons to my feet, like those they use among the Alps, without which I could not for a moment have kept my footing on the frozen surface of the snow. As we approached the Table Rock, the whole scene assumed a wild and wonderful magnificence ; do\^'n came the dark green waters, hurrying with them over the edge of the preci- pice enormous blocks of ice brought down from Lake Erie. On each side of the Falls, from the ledges and overhanging clifi"s, were suspended huge icicles, some twenty, some thirty feet in length, thicker than the body of a man, and in colour of a paly green, like the glaciers of the Alps ; and all the crags below, which projected from the boiling, eddying waters, were encrusted, and in a manner built round with ice, which had formed into immense crystals, like basaltic columns, such as I have seen in the pictures of Staffa and the Giant's Causeway ; and every tree, and leaf, and branch, fringing the rocks and ravines, was wrought in ice. On tliem, and on the wooden buildings erected near the Table Rock, the spray from the cataract had accumulated, and formed * Eagles are very commonly seen about the Ya\h. — W. B. F 71 DESCllIPTIONS OF NIAGARA- into the most beautiful crystals and tracery-work; they looked like houses of glass, welded and moulded into regular and ornamental shapes, and hung round with a rich fringe of icy points. Wherever we stood we were on unsafe ground, for the snow, when heaped up, as now, to the height of three or four feet, frequently slipped in masses from the bare rock, and on its surface the spray, for ever failing, was converted into a sheet of ice, smooth, compact, and glassy, on which I could not have stood a moment without my crampons. It was very fearful, and yet I could not tear myself away, but remained on the Table Rock, even on the very edge of it, till a kind of dreamy fascination came over me ; the continuous thunder, and might, and movement of the lapsing waters, held all my vital spirits bound up as by a spell. Then, as at last I turned away, the descending sun broke out, and an iris appeared below the American Fall, one extremity resting on a snoAV-mound ; and then it hung motionless in the midst of restless terrors, its beautiful but rather pale hues contrasting with the deathlike, colourless objects around ; it reminded me of the faint ethereal smile of a dying martyr. It was near midnight when we mounted our sleigh to return to the town of Niagara, and, as I remember, I did not utter a word during the whole fourteen miles. The air \) as still, though keen ; the snow lay around ; the whole earth seemed to slum- ber in a ghastly calm repose, but the heavens were wide awake. Then the avirora borealis was holding her levels, and dancirg, and flashing, and var3'ing through all shapes and all hues — pale amber, rose tint, blood red — and the stars shone out with a fitful, restless brilliance, and every now and then a meteor would shoot athwart the skies, or fall to earth, and all around me was wild and strange, and exciting — more like a fever-dream than a reality. To-day I am suffering, as might be expected, with pain and stiffness, unable to walk aci'oss the room ; but the pain Avill pass : and on the whole, I am glad I have made this excursion. Tlie Falls did not make on my mind the impres- sion I had anticipated, perliaps for that reiison, even because MAJOR HAMILTON. 75 I had anticipated it. Under different circumstances it might have been otherwise ; hut " it was sung to me in my cradle/^ as tlie Germans say,* that I should hve to be disappointed — even in the Falls of Niagara. NIAGARA— BY MAJOR HAMILTON, AUTHOR OF " CYRIL THORNTON." ( Extracted from his " Men and Manners in America, in 1833.") About twelve o^ clock, I found myself in Forsyth's hotel, a large and not uncomfortable house, about half-a-mile distant from the Great Horse-Shoe Fall. It stands upon a high level of table-laud, and from the upper balcony the Falls are distinctly visible. To a stranger visiting Niagara for the first time, I do not know that this circumstance is very desirable, and I confess that in my own case, the view carried with it something of disappointment. The truth is, that from Forsyth's you see the upper portion of the Fall ; but at least one half of the descent, the boiling caldron below, and the impenetrable mass of vapour with which it is sublimely and mysteriously encanopied, you do not see. No sooner had I reached the hotel, than the morn- ing, which had been lowering with dark and threatening clouds, set in with an absolute tempest of wind and rain. It was impossible to rest, however, before gazing on the great wonder which I had travelled so far to behold ; so, throwing on my cloak, I sallied forth, bidding defiance to the elements. The banks which descend to the bed of the river are very steep, and so slippery, that I encountered more than one tumble in ray pi'ogress. But this was nothing; and most amply was I repaid for all the troubles of my journey, when in a few minutes I fouud myself standing on the very brink of this tremendous yet most beautiful cataract. * " So was uur's in der wiege ge>s, Still streaming, as they move, with colom-ed light. But round the parent stem, the long, low boughs Bend in a glittering ring, or arbours hide The glassy floor. Oh ! you might deem the spot The spacious cavern of some virgin mine, Deep in the womb of earth, where the gems grow ! And diamonds put forth radiant rods, and bud With amethyst and topaz, and the place Lit up most royally with the pure beam That dwells in tllem; or, haply, the vast hall Of fairy palace, that outlasts the night, And fades not in the glory of the sun ; Wiiere crystal columns send forth slender shafts. And crossing arches, and fantastic aisles Wind from the sight in brightness, and are lost Among the crowded pillars." The winter scenery about the Falls is peculiar, a sight of which is worth a journey of thousands of miles. Myriads of wild ducks and geese spend the day in and above the rapids, and regularly take their departure for Lake Ontario every night before dark ; though some are often found in the morning with a broken leg or wing, and sometimes dead, in the river below the Falls. This generally happens after a very dark or foggy night ; and it is supposed that, as they always have their heads up stream, while in the water, they are carried down insensibly by the rapids, till they find them- selves going over the precipice, and then, in attempting to fl}^ they dive into the sheet of Avater, and are buried for a time under the Falls, or dashed upon the rocks. Dead fish too, of almost all sizes and descriptions, and weighing from one to seventy pounds, are found floating in the eddies below the Falls, forming a dainty repast for gulls, loons, hawks, and eagles. The splendid gyrations of the gulls, and their fearless approaches, enveloped in clouds of mist, up to the boiling caldron directly under the Falls, attract much attention. But the eagle, fierce, daring, contemplative, and tyrannical, takes his stand upon the point of some projecting rock, or the dry limb of a gigantic tree, and watches with excited interest the movements of the Avhole feathered tribes 101 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGAKA. below. Standing there in lordly pride and dignit}'^^ in an instant liis eye kindles and his ardour rises as he sees the fish-hawk emerge from the deep, screaming with exultation at his success. He darts forth like lightning,, and gives furi- ous chase. The hawk, perceiving his danger, utters a scream of despair, and drops his fish ; and the eagle instantly seizes the fish in the air, and bears his ill-gotten booty to his lofty eyrie. Sometimes during a part of the Avinter, the ice is driven by the wind from Lake Erie, and poured over the Falls in such immense quantities as to fill and block up the river between the banks, for a mile or more, to the depth of from thirty to fifty feet, so that people cross the ice to Canada, on foot, for weeks together : the river itself is never frozen over, either above or below the Falls, but it affords an outlet for vast quantities of ice from the upper lakes. The river at the Falls, is a little over three-fourths of a mile in width, but below, it is immediately compressed into a narrow channel of less than one-fourth of a mile in width : its depth, as ascertained by sounding, is about 250 feet. Its colour is deep green, and sometimes blue; occasioned, no doubt, by reflection from the sky. One of the best general views of the Falls and river below, is from a projecting rock, about a mile below the village, some- times called Point View^ The perpendicular rock is here 200 feet above the river, and from the verge of the dizzy height is to be obtained the most complete and extensive view of the entire Falls, the river below, and its rocky and precipitous banks, that can be obtained from any other position. For about two miles below the Falls, the river is compar- atively smooth ; it then runs with amazing velocity to Lewis- ton ; and, what is remarkable, while the river makes a constant descent, the banks have a gradual ascent for six miles; so that from the top of the bank to the water, at Brock's Monument, near Queeuston, is 370 feet ; and the heights there are 38 feet higher than Lake Erie, and 25 feet higher than the land C. J. LATROBE. 103 at Schlosscr. Whether the bed of the river hcr<3 was once a natural ravine, or was formed by an earthquake, or worn away by the continued and violent action of the water falling upon the rocks — thus carrying the Falls back from Queens- ton to their present situation, it would be difficult to deter- mine with certainty. From descriptions of the Falls written nearly two hundred years ago, we learn, that though their shiipe has been some- what altered since, they then occupied the place which they hold now, and exhibited the same wonderful phenomena. When and by whom among the whites they were first dis- covered, the writer has never yet been able to ascertain. Tradition ascinbes their discovery to two missionaries, who were on an exploring tour to this part of the country, in an age anterior to any written account extant. NIAGARA.— BY CHARLES JOSEPH LATROBE. (From his " Rambles in North America.") You may recollect my juvenile weakness, that of being a notorious cascade hunter. There was something in the motion of a waterfall which always made my brain spin with pleasure. Impelled by this passion, as a boy, I ran- sacked the moorland and mountain districts of the north of England, in quest of the beautiful but diminutive speci- mens of this variety of natural scenery with Avhich they abound ; and at a later period, there was not an acccssilde waterfall within my range of travel, from the Ilhine Fall to Tivoli, that I did not contrive to approach, gaze upon, and listen to with infinite pleasure. So you may well ask what impression was made upon me by Niagara. I am glad that the position and the general features of this celebrated scene are too well known to need description, and that you Avill require none from me. At the commencement of the present century, Niagara, H lOG DESCRIPTIONS OI' NIAGARA. difficult of access, and rarely visited, was still tlie cataract of the wilderness. The red Indian still lingered in its vicinity, and adored the ' Great Spirit' and ' Master of Life/ as he listened to the ' Thunder of the waters.' The human habi- tations within sound of its Fall were few and far apart. Its few visitors came, gazed, and departed in silence and awe, having for their guide the child of the forest, or the hardy back-woodsman. No staring, painted hotel rose over the woods, and obtruded its pale face over the edge of the boiling river. The journey to it from the east was one of adventure and peril. The scarcely attainable shore of Goat Island, lying between the two great divisions of the cataract, had only been trodden by a few hardy adventurers, depending upon stout hearts and steady hands for escape from the imminent perils of the passage. How is it now ? The forest has everywhere yielded to the axe. Hotels, with their snug shrubberies, out-houses, gardens, and paltiy embellishment, stare you in the face ; museums, mills, staircases, tolls, and grog - shops, all the petty trickery of ]\Iatlock-baths, or Ambleside, greet the eye of the traveller. Bridges are thrown from island to island; and Goat Island is reached without adventure. A scheming company on the Canadian side have planned a ' City of the Falls,' to be filled with snug cottages, symmetrically arranged, to let for the season ; and, in fine, you write to your friend in Quebec, and giving him rendezvous at Niagara for a certain hour, start yourself from Richmond, in Virginia, for the point proposed, with a moral certainty of meeting at the very day and hour speci- cified, by taking advantage of the improvements of the age, and the well-arranged mode of conveyance by steamers, rail- roads, canals, and coaches. In short, Niagara is now as hacknied as Stockgill Forge, or Rydal-water, and, all things considered, the observation of an unimaginative ' Eastern man' is said to have made, addressing a young lady-tourist, who was gazing breathlessly for the first time at the scene, was not so far out of keeping with it : "Isn't it nice, Miss ?" Yes, all is nice, that that active little biped man has done, or is doing. C. J. I.ATUOBE. 107 But do not suppose tliat we grew peevisli at the siglit of the blots upon the Landscape to which I have alluded, and departed in wrath and disgust. We soon found that there is that in and about Niagara which was not to be marred by busy man and all his petty schemes for convenience and aggrandisement ; and I may truly say, with regard to both our first and second visit, and stay within its precincts, that we were under the influence of its spell. While Avithin the sound of its waters, I will not say that you become part and parcel of the cataract, but you find it difficult to think, speak, or dream of anything else. Its Adbrations pervade, not only the air you breathe, the bank on which you sit, the paper on which you write, but thrill through your whole frame, and act upon your nervous system in a remarkable, and it may almost be said unpleasant, manner. You may have heard of individuals coming back from the contemplation of these Falls with dissatisfied feelings. To me this is perfectly incomprehensible, and I do not know whether to envy the splendid fancies and expectations of that class of travellers, to whom the sight of Niagara would bring disappointment, or to feel justified in doubting whether they have any imagi- nation or eye for natural scenery at all. How blank the world must be, to them, of objects of natural interest ! What can they expect to see ? As to expectations, ours were excited and warm, and I shall never forget the real anxiety with which we looked out, on our ascent from Lewiston, for the first appearance oi the object of our visit. The broad fathomless blue river, streaked with foam, which, deeply sunk in a colossal channel, Imrried to our rencontre, and appeared at every glimpse as we advanced swifter and in greater commotion, was to us a guarantee that the scene of its descent from the upper country could be no common one. When about three miles from the village on the American side, you gain your first view of the Falls, together Avith the river, both above and below — the island which divides them — and greater part of the basin at their feet. n 2 108 DESCRIPTIOXS OF NIAGARA. I will not say but that the impression of that first glance was heightened afterwards by our nearer and reiterated survey of every portion of the cataract in detail ; yet we all agreed that we could even then grasp the idea of its magni- tude, and that all we had seen elsewhere, and all we had expected, was far surpassed by what was then shown to us. And when, the following year, two of us turned aside by common consent to pay a second visit to Niagara, after having, in the interval, visited many of the great Falls of Lower Canada, — cataracts in comparison to which all Euro- pean Falls are puerile — and we felt our curiosity excited to divine what impression a second visit Avould make ; far from being disappointed, we felt that before Niagara, in spite of its inferiority of elevation, all shrunk to plajthings. It is not the mere weight and volume of water that should give this far-famed cataract the first rank. Every surrounding object seems to be on a corresponding scale of magnificence. The wide liquid surface of the river above, with its swelling banks, contrasted by the deep blue floods below, as boiling up from their plunge into the unfathomed basin, then shock against one another, and race down towards the distant lake ; the extreme beauty of the forested defile, with its precipices and slope ; the colouring of tlie waters, which in the upper part of its descent is that of the emerald ; the mystery and thick gloom w hicli hide the foot of the Falls, and add to their apparent height, and the floating clouds of vapour, now hm-ried over the face of the landscape, as though urged by the breath of a hurricane, and then slowly ascending, and hovering like a cloud in the blue sky, all combine to form a scene in which sublimity and picturesque beauty are enchant- ingly blended. There is here none of that stiffness, either in the scenery, or the form and appearance of the particular object of interest, Avhich engravings too frequently give you the idea of. Among the innumerable points of view, that from the precipitous shore of the river, about the distance I have alluded to, is the most satisfactory, if not the most striking. C. J. LATROBE. 109 In the immediate vicinity of tlie Falls, the points of interest are so various, that if you would require a sketch, I sliould not know which to select. The grandest, doubtless, is from the Canadian shore, near the Horse-Shoe Fall ; but you pass from one to the other, and everywhere the picture presented has no compeer or rival in nature. Many things combined to make us prefer choosing the village on the American shore for our halting-place, in pre- ference to the garish hotel on the opposite site. The greater monotony of the right-hand division of the cataract, was counterbalanced by the grand distant view of its neighbour, and by the practicabihty of a near approach to both from Goat Island, to which an easy access is afforded by a boldly constructed bridge over the rapids. Besides, we agreed that the position of the village and its inns was not only more rural and secluded, but that better taste was exhibited in its details. What a glorious scene ! to sit upon the summit of the impending precipice of the island, and see, as we did the morning after our first arrival, the summer mist begin to rise and disengage itself from the heavy white cloud of spray which rose from the depth of the boiling basin of the great Fall beneath us. By degrees, the curtain was partially removed, revealing the wall of slowly-descending water behind, now dimly descried, — as confounded with the floating sheets of foam and spray which the wind of the mighty cataract drove backward and forward over it like innumerable clouds of thin floating gauze, — it mocked us with its constantly vary- ing shape and position ; and then appearing unveiled with its sea - green tints brilliantly illuminated by the passing sunbeam. An hour after, and the mist had disappeared ; the Falls were sparkling in the l)right sunshine; and a brilliant iris was resting on the body of vapour which the wind carried away from the face of the descending columns. The scene at sunset, day after day, was no way less majestic, when the sun, glancing from the Canadian shore, lit up the precipices and woods of Goat Island, and the broad face of the American 110 L)i:>;( KU'TioNs or niaoara. Fall, which then glowed like a wall of gold; while half the Fall of the Horse- Shoe, avid the deep recesses of the curve, were wrapped in shade. Morning, noon, and night found us strolling about the shore, and on the island, which is an earthly paradise. I remember the quiet hours spent there, when fatigued with the glare of the hot bright sun, and the din of the Falls, with peculiar delight. We loved, too, to escape from all those signs of man^s presence and busy-bodying, to which I have alluded, and, burying ourselves in the fresh dark scarce-trodden forest still covering a great part of its area, to listen to the deadened roar of the vast cataracts on either hand, swelling on the air distinct from every other sound. There, seated in comparative solitude, you catch a peep across a long vista of stems of the white vapour and foam. You listen to the sharp cry of the blue jay, the tap of the red- lieaded woodpecker, and the playful baik of the squirrel ; you scan the smooth white boles of the beech or birch, chequered Avith broad patches of dark-green moss, the stately elm and oak, the broad-lcavcd maple, the silvery-Avhite and exquisitely chiselled trunk of the cedar, or the decaying trunk of the huge chesnut, garlanded with creepers j but you will hardly ever lose the consciousness of the locality. The spell of [Niagara is still upon and around you. You glance again and again at the white veil which thickens or grows dim beyond the leafy forest : the rush of the nearer rapids, the din of falling waters, the murmur of the echoes answering the l)ulsations of the descending mass, fill your ears, and pervade all natiu'e. Everything around and about you aj)pears to reply to the cataract, and to partake of it, none more so than the ever- green forest, which is bathed from year to year in the dew of the river. These noble trees, as they tower aloft on the soil, are sustained from youth to age by the invigorating spray of the mighty Falls. Their leaves are steeped, summer after summer, in the heavy dew; their trunks echo the falling Maters, from the day they rise from the sod, to that in which MKS. SIGOURNKY. Ill they are shaken to the ground ; and the fibres of the huge moss-grown trunk on which you sit^ prostrate and moulder- ing on the ricli soil beneath, bedded in the fresh grass and leaves, still vibrates to the sound of its thunders, and crumbles gradually to dust. But all this proves nothing — as a matter-of-fact man might say — but that I am Niagara- mad. We have much before us, and many sublime scenes, though none may vie with that, before which we have been lingering : — allons ! NIAGARA.— BY MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY. Up to the Table-Rock, where the great flood Reveals its fullest glory. To the verge Of its appalling battlement draw near. And gaze beloAV. Or, if thy spirit fail, Creep stealthily, and snatch a trembling glance Into the dread abyss. What there thou seest Shall dwell for ever in thy secret soul, Finding no form of language. The vexed deep. Which from the hour that Chaos heard the voice " Let there be light," hath known nor pause nor rest, Communeth through its misty cloud with Him Who breaks it on the wheel of pitiless rock, Yet heals it every moment. Bending near, Mid all the terror, as an angel-friend. The rainbow walketh in its company With perfect orb full-rounded. Dost thou cling Thus to its breast, a Comforter, to give Strength in its agony, thou radiant form, Born of the trembling tear-drop, and the smile Of sun, or glimmering moon ? 113 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Yet from a scene So awfully sublime, our senses shrink, And fain would shield them at the solemn base Of the tremendous precipice, and glean Such hallowed thoucrhts as blossom in its shade. This is thy building, Architect Divine ! Who heav^dst the pillars of the Universe. Up, without noise, the mighty fabric rose, And to the clamour of the unresting gulf For ever smiting on its ear of rock With an eternal question, answereth nought. Man calls his vassals forth, with toil and pain ; Stone piled on stone, the pyramid ascends. Yet ere it reach its apex-point, he dies, Nor leaves a chiselled name upon his tomb. The vast cathedral grows, with deep-groined arch. And massj'^ dome, slow reared, while race on race Fall like the ivy sere, that climbs its walls. The imperial palace towers, the triumph arch. And the tall fane that tells a hero's praise Uplift their crowns of fret-work haughtily. But, lo ! the Gotli doth waste them, and his herds The Vandal pastures mid their fallen pride. But thou, from age to age, unchanged hast stood, Even like an altar to Jehovah's name, Silent, and stedfast, and immutable. Niagara and the storm-cloud ! To the peal Of their united thunder, rugged rocks Amazed reverberate, through depths profound Streams the red lightning, while the loftiest trees Bow, and are troubled. Shuddering earth doth hide In midnight's veil ; and even the ethereal mind. Which hath the seed of immortality Within itself, — not undismayed, beholds This fearful tumult of the elements. Mils. SIGOURNEY. 113 Old Ocean meets the tempest and is wrotli, And in his wrath destroys. The wrecking ship, The sea-boy stricken from the qnaking mast, The burning tear wrung forth from many a home, To which the voj^ager returns no more. Attest the fury of his vengeful mood. But thou, Niagara, know^st no passion-gust ; Thy mighty bosom, from the sheeted rain. Spreads not itself to sudden boastfulness. Like the wild torrent in its shallow bed. Thou art not angry, and thou changest not. Man finds in thee no emblem of himself; The cloud depresseth him, the adverse blast E/Ouseth the billows of his discontent, The wealth of summer-showers inflates his pride. And with the simple faith and love of Ilim Who made him from the dust, he mingleth much Of his own vain device. Perchance, even here, 'Neath all the sternness of thy strong rebuke. Light fancies fill him, and he gathereth straws Or plaiteth rushes, or illusive twines Garlands of hope, more fragile still than they. But in one awful voice, that ne'er has known Change or inflection since the morn of time. Thou utterest forth that One Eternal Name, Which he who graves not on his inmost soul Will find his proudest gatherings, as the dross That cannot profit. Thou hast ne'er forgot Thy lesson, or been weary, day or night. Nor with its simple, elemental thought Mixed aught of discord . Teacher, sent from God, We bow us to thy message, and are still. 114 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Oh ! full of glory, and of majesty, With all thy terrible apparel on, High-priest of Nature, who within the veil Mysterious, unapproachable dost dwell. With smoke of incense ever streaming up. And round thy breast, the folded bow of heaven, Few are our words before thee. For ^tis meet That even the mightiest of our race should stand Mute in thy presence, and Avith childlike awe. Disrobed of self, adore his God through thee. " Deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of thy waterspouts." Most appositely did the poet Brainerd, in his beautiful apos- trophe to Niagara, quote from the inspired minstrel, " deep calleth unto deep." Simple and significant also, was its Indian appellation, the "Water-thunderer." To the wander- ing son of the forest, " whose untutored mind Saw God in clouds, or heard him in the wind," it forcibly suggested the image of that Great Spirit, who in darkness and storm sends forth from the skies a mighty voice. The immense volume of water which distinguishes Niagara from all other cataracts, is seldom fully realized by the casual visitant. Transfixed by his emotions, he forgets that he sees the surplus waters of those vast inland seas, Superior, Huron, Michigan, and Erie, arrested in their rushing passage to the Ocean, by a fearful barrier of rock, 160 feet in height. He scarcely recollects that the tributaries to this river, or strait, coAcr a surface of 150,000 miles. Indeed, how can he bow his mind to aught of arithmetical computation, when in the presence of this monarch of floods. The view from the boat while crossing the Ferry is unique and impressive. It gives the first strong idea of the greater magnificence that awaits you.* You are encompassed by an * Tliat i.s crossino- from the American side. MRS. SIGOURNEY. llo ampliitlieatre of towering rocks and hills. Fragments of rainbows and torrents of mist hover around you. A stupen- dous column rises, whose base is in the fathomless depth, whose head, wrapped in cloud, seems to join earth and heaven. It strikes you as a living personification of His power who poured it " from the hollow of his hand.-'^ You tremble at its feet. With a great voice of thunder it Avarns you uot to approach. The winds spread out their wings, and whelm you in a deluge of spray. You are sensible of the giant force of the tide, bearing up the boat, which like an egg-shell is tossed upon its terrible bosom. You feel like an atom in the great creation of God. You glance at the athletic sinews of the roAvers, and wonder if they are equal to their perilous task. But the majesty of the surrounding scene annihilates selfish apprehension ; and, ere you are aware, the little boat runs smoothly to" her haven, and you stand on the Canadian shore. Hitherto, all you have seen will convey but au imperfect impression of the grandeur and sublimity that are unfolded on the summit of Table-E,ock. This is a precipice nearly 160 feet in height, with flat, smooth, altar-shaped surface. As you approach this unparapeted projection, the unveiled glories of Niagara burst upon the astonished senses. We borroAV the graphic delineation of a gentleman,* Avho nearly forty years since Avas a visitant of this scene, and thus describes it from the summit of Table-Rock. " On your right hand, the river comes roaring forward with all the agitation of a tempestuous ocean, recoiling in Avaves and Avhirlpools, as if determined to resist the impulse which is forcing it downward to the gulf. When Avithin a few yards, and apparently at the moment of sAA^eeping away, it plunges headlong into what seems a bottomless pit, for the vapour is so thick at the foot of the precipice, that the torrent is completely lost to the view. " Seen from the Table-Rock, the tumbling green Avaters of the rapids, Avhich persuade you that an ocean is approaching ; ' Dr. AA'adi) worth, E?(i. 116 DESCRIPTIONS or NIAGARA. the brilliant colour of the water; the frightful gulf, and headlong torrent at your feet ; the white column rising from its centre, and often reaching to the clouds; the black wall of rock frowning from the opposite island ; and the long curtain of foam descending from the other shore, interrupted only by one dark shaft, form altogether one of the most beautiful, as well as awful, scenes in nature. The effect of all these objects is much heightened by being seen from a dizzy and fearful pinnacle, upon which you seem suspended over a fathomless abyss of vapour, whence ascends the deafening uproar of the greatest cataract in the world, and by reflect- ing that this powerful torrent has been rushing down, and this grand scene of stormy magnificence been in the same dreadful tumult for ages, and will continue so for ages to come.^' Skirting the base of the Table-llock, you arrive at the point of entrance, behind the vast sheet of water, Avhich those who desire to traverse, provide themselves with fitting apparel, which is here kept for that purpose. This magnifi- cent cavern is often tenanted by rushing winds, which drive the spray with blinding fury in the face of the approaching pilgrim. Clad in rude garments, and cap of oil-cloth, with coarse shoes — the most unpicturesque of all figures — he approaches, staking his staff among the loose fragments that obstruct his way. The path is slippery and perilous, the round wet stones betray his footing, and sometimes cold, slimy, and wriggling eels coil around his ancles. Respiration is at first difficult, almost to suffocation. But the aiding hand and encouraging voice of the guide are put in requi- sition, and, almost ere he is aware, he reaches Termination Rock, beyond which all progress is hazardous. This exploit entitles him to a certificate, obtained at the house Avliere his garb was provided, and signed by the guide. But should he fail of attaining this honour, Ijy a too precipitate retreat from this cavern of thunders, he is still sure of a magnificent shower-bath. The lover of Nature's magnificence will scarcelv be satisfied MRS. SIGOURNEY. 117 without repeated visits to Niagara. The mind is slow in receiving the idea of great magnitude. It requires time and repetition to expand and deepen the perceptions that over- whelm it. This educating process is peculiarly necessary among scenery, where the mind is continually thrown back upon its Author, and the finite, trying to take hold of the Infinite, falters, and hides itself in its own nothingness. It is impossible for Niagara to disappoint, unless through the infirmity of the conception that fails to grasp it. Its resources are inexhaustible. It can never expand itself, because it points always to God. More unapproachable than the fathomless ocean, man cannot launch a bark upon its bosom, or bespeak its service in any form. He may not even lay his hand upon it, and live. Upon its borders he can dream, if he will, of gold-gathering, and of mill-privileges ; but its perpetual warning is, " Hence, ye profane \" Let none, who have it in their power to change their places at will, omit a pilgrimage to Niagara. The facilities of travelling render it now a very different exploit from what it was in the days of our fathers, who were forced to cut away with their axes the branches intercepting the passage of the rocky roads. Those whose hearts respond to whatever is .beautiful and sublime in creation, should pay their homage to this mighty cataract. No other scenery so powerfully com- bines these elements. Let the gay go thither to be made thoughtful, and the religious to become more spiritually-minded. Yet let not the determined trifler linger here to pursue his revels. Frivolity seems an insult to the majesty that presides here. Folly and dissipation are surely out of place. The thunder- hymn of the mighty flood reproves them. Day and night it seems to repeat and enforce the words of inspiration : " The Lord is in his holy temple : let all the earth keep silence before Him.''— Hab. ii. 20. 118 DESCUIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. CURIOSITIES MINERAL SPRING, &c. A NUMBER of these, as the islands, the bridges, the staircases, the burning springs, Brock's Monument, the Welland Canal, &c., have already been described. One mile above the Falls on the American side, is the site of old Fort Schlosser ; a place somewhat distinguished in the early history of this region, and commanding a most beautiful prospect of the river and rapids, of Grand and Navy Islands, and of the village of Chippewa, on the opposite shore. Nothing remains of the fort, except the entrenchments, and a few rods of pave- ment within. A stockade was built here in the year 1672. Before the construction of the Erie Canal, all the business between the lakes was interchanged by means of a land-carriage from this place to Lewiston. Half a mile below the Falls, under the bank, are Catlin's Caves, a visit to which no traveller will be likely to regret. Vast quantities of calcareous or petrified moss are found here in all stages of its petrifying process. On the other side, nearly opposite, is Bender's Cave, a place which is thought to be worthy a special visit. Two miles below the Falls, on the American side, is a mineral spring, containing sulphuric and muriatic acids, lime and magnesia ; and by the use of its waters many important ciu-es have been effected. For scrofulous, rheumatic, and cutaneous complaints, this spring supplies an almost sovereign remedy. From the stage - road near the spring, travellers have a most delightful view of the Avhole Falls, two miles distant ; and if they see the Falls from this place first, as they generally do in coming up from Lewiston, the impression here made will probably never be effaced. Capt. Hall remarks respecting this place, " I felt at the moment quite sure that no subsequent examination, whether near or remote, could ever remove, or even materially Aveaken, the impression left 1)Y this first view." MR. IIOWISON. 119 FALLS OF NIAGARA.— FROM IIOWISON'S "CANADA, 18'il." The Table Rock, from wliicli the Falls may be contemplated in all their grandeur, lies on an exact level Avith the edge of the cataract on the Canada side, — and forms indeed a part of the precipice over which the water rushes. It derives its name from its projecting about thirty feet beyond the cliffs that support it, like the leaf of a table. To gain this position, you must descend a steep bank, and follow a path that winds among shrubbery and trees, which conceals the scene which awaits him who traverses it. Near the termination of this road, an amphitheatre of cataracts bursts upon the view with appalling suddenness and majest3^ In a moment the scene was concealed by a dense cloud of spray, which involved me so completely that I dared not extricate myself. A mingled rushing and thundering filled my ears. I could see nothing, except Avhen the wind made a chasm in the spray ; and the tremendous cataracts seemed to encompass me on every side ; Avhile below, a raging and foaming gulf of undiscoverable extent lashed the rocks with its hissing waves, and swallowed under a horrible obscurity, the smoking floods precipitated into its bosom. After a few minutes the sun burst forth, and the haze sub- siding, permitted the spray to ascend perpendicularly. A host of pyramidal clouds rose majestically, one after another, from the abyss below the Fall ; and each, when it ascended a little above the edge of the cataract, displayed a beautiful rainbow, which in a few moments was gradually transferred into the bosom of the cloud that immediately succeeded. The spray of the Great (Horse-Shoe) Fall had extended itself through a wide space directly overheard, and receiving the full influence of the sun, exhibited a luminous and n)agnificent rainbow, which continued to irradiate the spot where I stood, while I enthusiastically contemplated the indescribable scene. 120 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Any person who has nerve enough (as I had), may plunge his hand into the water of the Great Fall, after it is projected over the precipice, merely by lying down flat, with his face beyond the edge of the Table Rock, and stretching out liis arm to its utmost extent. The experiment is truly a horrible one, and such as I would not wish to repeat ; for even to this day, I feel a shuddering and recoiling sensation, when I recollect having been in the posture described. The body of water, which comprises the middle part of the Great Fall, is so vast, that it descends nearly two-thirds of the space, without being ruffled or broken ; and the solemn calmness with which it rolls over the edge of the precipice, is finely contrasted with the perturbed appearance it assumes below. But the water towards each side is shattered the moment it drops on the rock into pyramidal fragments, of which the bases are turned upwards. The surface of the gulf below presents a very singular appearance ; seeming filled with an immense quantity of hoar-frost, which is agitated by small and rapid undulations. The particles of water are dazzlingly white, and do not apparently unite together, but seem to continue for a time in a state of distinct comminution, and to repel each other with a thrilling and shivering motion not easy to be described. The road to the bottom of the Fall presents many more difficulties. By descending a spiral staircase nearly half a mile below tlie Table-Rock, the traveller finds himself about eighty feet under the precipice ou which he had walked. The impending cliffs seem to vibrate with the thunders of the approaching Falls, and display on their surface fossil shells, and the organic remains of a former world. As the traveller advances, he is frightfully stunned by the noise ; clouds of spray sometimes envelop him, and check his faltering steps ; rattlesnakes start from the cavities of the rocks; and the scream of eagles, soaring among the whirlwinds of eddying vapour which obscure the gulf, at intervals announce that the raging waters have hurled some bewildered animal over the precipice. After scrambling among piles of huge rocks that MR. HOWISON. 121 obstruct his slippery way, the traveller gains the bottom of the Fall, where the soul can be susceptible only of one emotion, — that of uncontrollable terror ! It was not until I had, by frequent excursions to the Falls, in some measure familiai-ised my mind with their sublimities, that I ventured to explore the Penetralia of the Great Cataract. The precipice over which it rolls, is very much arched underneath; while the impetus which the water receives in its descent, projects it fiu* beyond the cliflF; and thus an immense Gothic arch is formed by the rock and the torrent. Twice I entered this cavern, and twice I was obliged to retrace my steps, lest I should be suffocated by the blasts of dense spray that whirled around me : the third time, I suc- ceeded in advancing about twenty-five yards. Here darkness began to encircle me : on one side the black cliff stretched itself into a gigantic arch far above my head ; and on the other, the dense and hissing torrent formed an impenetrable sheet of water, with which I was drenched in a moment. The rocks were so slippery that I could scarcely keep my feet, or hold securely by them ; while the horrid din made me think the precipices above were tumbling down in colossal fragments upon my head. It is not easy to determine how far an individual might advance ; but even were it possible to explore the recess to its extremity, scarce any one, I believe, would have courage to attempt such an expedition. A little way below the Great Fall the river is comparatively so tranquil, that a ferry-boat plies between the Canadian and American shores. When I crossed, the skiff was at first tossed about with a violence that seemed very alarming ; but as soon as we gained the middle, my attention was wholly engaged by the surpassing grandeur of the scene. I was now within the area of a semicircle of cataracts, more than 3,000 feet in extent. I looked up amidst clouds of vapour, and hideous noise — to the height of 150 feet — and saw vast floods vehemently bursting over the precipice, as if the 1 122 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. windows of heaven were opened to pour another deluge on the earth ! Loud sounds, resembling the discharge of artillery or vol- canic irruptions, were now distinguished amidst the watery tumult. The sun, looking majestically through the ascend- ing spray, was encircled by a radiant halo ; Avhile fragments of rainbows floated on every side, and momentarily vanished only to give place to a succession of others more brilliant. Looking back, I saw the Niagara river again become calm, rolling majestically between the towering cliffs, and receiving showers of dew-drops from the trees that gracefully overarch its transparent bosom : while beautiful birds fluttered around, as if to welcome its egress from those clouds and thunders. The height of the Great Fall, as taken with a plumb-line, is 149 feet : its curve supposed to extend 2,100 feet, and its arc may measure nearly half that space. The breadth of Goat Island, is 984 feet ; and that of the American Fall (which it is unnecessary to describe) 1140 feet, its pitch being 164, or fifteen feet higher than the Great Fall. Therefore the whole circumference of the precipice over which the Falls roll, is, 4,224 feet, and the width of the cataract itself 3,240 feet. In general their form is that of an irregular semicircle, extending about three quarters of a mile. A dog, which I have seen, was carried over the Great Fall some years ago, and suffered no injury except the fracture of two ribs. But of the human bodies which have in several instances been carried over, none (I believe) was ever found. Dead wild- ducks are found in great numbers near the bottom of the Falls along the banks, on the mornings that succeed to dark and stormy nights ; which some suppose carried over while asleep ; — but others, more probably, think them entangled in the rapids above, and swept away ere aware of their danger. The three extensive views are those described : there is a similar staircase on the American side. In general the first view travellers obtain from the road, being above the level of WHIRLPOOL. 123 the Falls, is comparatively imperfect and imimposing. The country around is exquisitely beautiful ; and there are several mansions very near, and in view of the rapids and the Great FaU. WHIRLPOOL.— DEVIL'S HOLE.— TUSCARORA INDIANS. One mile further down leads t& a tremendous whirlpool, resembling very much, in its appearance and gyrations, the celebrated Maelstrom on the coast of Norway. Logs and trees are sometimes whirled around for days together in its outer circles, while in the centre they are drawn down per- pendicularly with great force, are soon shot out again at the distance of many rods, and occasionally thrust into the channel to pass down the river. The river here makes nearly a right angle, which occasions the whirlpool, — is narrower than at any other place, not more than thirty rods in width, — — and the current runs with such amazing velocity as to rise up in the middle ten feet above the sides. This has been ascertained by actual measurement. " Resistless, roaring, dreadful down it comes, — There, gathering triple force, rapid and deep, — It boils, and wheels, and foams, and thunders through." There is a path leading down the bank to the whirlpool on both sides, and, though somewhat difficult to descend and ascend, it is accomplished almost every day on the American side, by gentlemen, and often by lacjies. A brisk and very refreshing breeze is felt there during the hottest and stillest days of summer; and no place is better fitted to elevate and expand the mind. The whirlpool is a phenomenon of great interest as seen even from the top of the bank, especially if a small telescope be used ; but to have any adequate idea of its power and motion, visitors ought to descend to the water's edge, and walk some distance up the river. The rapids here are much more powerful and terrific I 2 134 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. than they are above the Falls, and appear like a flood of watery brilliants rushing along. Having written thus far, the writer laid down his pen, and started off on a fresh visit to the Avhirlpool ; and now, having spent half a day there in mute astonishment and admiration, and walked more than a mile by the river^s edge, he is utterly at a loss what language to use in describing it. He is aware that the above description is tame aud meagre ; and yet he can think of no language, no imageiy, no comparison, that will not fall immeasurabiy*^short of conveying a just idea of the scene. He can only say, soberly and earnestly, that no gentleman ought hereafter to acknowledge that he has seen the Falls of Niagara, unless he could also say he had seen the whirlpool from the water's edge. A staircase down the bank would be a great accommodation to visitors, and it is to be hoped that one ere long will be constructed. Water for hydraulic purposes, may easily be brought into use here to an almost unlimited extent. About the year 1812, an accident occurred here, perhaps worth recording. A party of men were employed in cutting cedar logs near the river about the whirlpool, Avith a view to get them floated to Lewiston. One man stepping upon some of them that were rafted, was imperceptibly, or perhaps through carelessness, drawn out into the current, and swiftly carried into the whirlpool. He clung to a log, and was carried round and round in the capacious basin for hours, expecting every moment to be crushed among the logs or thrust into the vortex, while his companions on shore could afford him no relief. At length some of them ascended the bank, went to Queenston, four miles, and procured a boat to be drawn up by a team. This was let down the bank, and many people assembled with ropes, poles, &c. to render assistance. After the boat had been well secured, and some men had stepped in intending to push out into the whirlpool, the man upon the log, still whirling in imminent peril of his life, was, by some action of the water, sent out directly to the shore, and finally saved, without receiving any aid from others. DEVIL S HOLE. 125 A mile below the whirlpool is a place on the American side, called the ^' Devil's Hole/' embracing about two acres, cut out laterally and perpendicularly in the rock by the side of the river, and about one hundred and fifty feet deep. This name was probably given from that of the personage more frequently invoked in this region, formerly, than any other. How this hole was thus made it is difficult to conjecture. Visitors look into it with silent, inexpressible amazement. An angle of this hole or gulf comes within a few feet of the stage road, affording travellers an opportLinity, without alight- ing, of looking into the yawning abyss. But they ought to alight and pass to the farther side of the fiat projecting rock, where they will feel themselves richly repaid for their trouble. The scenery there presented is singularly captivating and sublime. This place is distinguished by an incident that occurred about the year 1759. A company of British soldiers, pursued by the French and Indians, were driven off this rock at the point of the bayonet. All, save one, instantly perished upon the rocks two hundred feet beneath them. This one fell into the crotch of a tree, and succeeded afterwards in ascending the bank and making his escape. A man by the name of Steadman, who lived at Fort Schlosser, was among this companj^ of British, but made his escape on horseback, just before coming to the bank, though many balls whizzed about him in his flight. The Indians afterwards imagined him to be impenetrable, and invincible, became very friendly, and ultimately, in considera- tion of some services he rendered them, gave him all the laud included between Niagara river and a straight line drawn from Gill Creek above Fort Schlosser to the Devil's Hole, embracing about 5,000 acres. The heirs of Steadman, so late as the year 1823, instituted and carried on a long and expensive lawsuit against the State of New- York, to recover this land. But they could show no title, and the suit resulted in favour of the State and the present occupants. Eight miles below the Falls, and three miles back from the 126 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. river, is the Reservation of the Tuscarora Indians, containing two miles in width by four in length, {about 5,000 acres,) of very excellent land. They consist of about three hundred souls, have a Presbyterian church of fifty members, a resident clergyman, a school teacher, and a Temperance Society of more than one hundred members. They are under the care of the American Board of Foreign Missions. Their village is delightfully situated on a high bank com- manding an extensive prospect of the surrounding country, and of Lake Ontario. But the greater part of the Indians live in a settlement a mile and a half from the village, and are not generally seen by visitors. These Indians came from North Carolina, about the year 1713, and joined the confederacy of the Five Nations, them- selves making the Sixth. They formerly held a very valuable interest in land in North Carolina, but have recently sold it, and divided the proceeds equally among themselves. Many of them are in very prosperous circumstances; in the year 1834, one man raised and gathered fifty acres of wheat. Visitors at the Falls have been in the habit of going, some- times in crowds, to this village on the Sabbath; but the Indians, with their missionary, have often expressed their desire that visitors would not interrupt them at that time. NIAGARA.— BY CAPTAIN BASIL HALL, R.N. (From " Travels in North America, in the Years 1827 aud 1828.") On the 29th of June, we went from Lockport to the Falls of Niagara, which infinitely exceeded our anticipations. I think it right to begin with this explicit statement,- because I do not remember in any instance in America, or in England^ when the subject was broached, that the first question has not been, " Did the Falls answer your expectations ?" The oest answer on this subject I remember to have heard of, was made by a gentleman who had just been at Niagara, CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. 127 and on his return was appealed to by a party he met on the way going to the Falls, uho naturally asked if he thought they would be disappointed. "Why, no," said he; "not unless you expect to witness the sea coming down from the moon !" On our way to the Falls we had one view, and that merely a glimpse, of Lake Ontario, through a wide opening in the trees, on the top of a rising ground. That enormous sheet of water, Vifhich is one hundred and seventy miles long, had none of those appearances of a lake, familiar as such to our eyes. I was prepared to expect something like the sea, but was surprised, though I don't well know why, by discovering it to be so precisely similar to the ocean. It had the same blue tint, and possessed all the appearances of boundless extent. Between the spot where we stood, and the south-western margin of the lake, there lay a belt of flat country, eight or ten miles in width, matted thickly with the untouched forest, and nearly as striking as the grand lake itself. The river Niagara which flows from Lake Erie into Lake Ontai'io, is unlike any other river that I know of. It is a full- grown stream at the first moment of its existence, and is no larger at its mouth than at its source. Its whole length is about thirty-two miles, one-half of which is above the Falls, and the other half lies between them and Lake Ontario. During the first part of its course, or that above the tremen- dous scene alluded to, this celebrated river slips quietly along out of Lake Erie, nearly at the level of the surrounding flat country. After the river passes over the Falls, however, its character is immediately and completely changed. It then runs furi- ously along the bottom of a deep wall-sided valley, or huge trench, which seems to have been cut into the horizontal strata of the limestone rock by the continued action of the stream during the lapse of ages. The cliffs on both sides are at most places nearly perpendicular, without any interval being left between the cliff's and the river, or any rounding of the edges at the top; and a rent would seem a more appropriate term than a valley. 128 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. The first glimpse we got of the Great Fall was at the dis- tance of about three miles below it, from the right or eastern bank of the river. Without attempting to describe it, I may say, that I felt at the moment quite sure no subsequent exami- nation, whether near or remote, could ever remove, or even materially weaken, the impression left by this first view. From the time we discovered the stream, and especially after coming within hearing of the cataract, our expectations were of course wound up to the highest pitch. Most people, I suppose, in the course of their lives, must, on some occasion or other, have found themselves on the eve of a momentous occurrence; and by recalling what they experience at that time, will perhaps understand better what was felt than I can venture to describe it. I remember myself experiencing something akin to it at St. Helena, when wait- ing in Napoleon's outer room, under the consciousness that the tread which I heard was from the foot of the man who, a short while before, had roved at-will over so great a portion of the world ; but whose range was now confined to a few chambers — and that I was separated from this astonishing person, only b}'^ a door, which was just about to open. So it w^as with Niagara. I knew that at the next turn of the road, I should behold the most splendid sight on earth, — the outlet to those mighty reservoirs, which contain, it is said, one-half of the fresh water on the surface of our planet. On first coming to a scene so stupendous and varied as that of Niagara, the attention is embarrassed by the crowd of new objects ; and it always requires a certain degree of time to arrange the images which are suggested, before they can be duly appreciated. Any new knowledge, it must be recollected, of whatever kind, in order to be useful, requires to be combined with what we have previously gained, not for the idle purpose of drawing offensive comparisons — its too fre- quent application — but with a view to the purification of our OAvn thoughts, and the expulsion of errors, and narrowing pre- judices, which light upon us with the quietness of thistle down, but cling like burs, go where you will, or see what you may. CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. 129 In our ordinary progress tlirougli the world, it may be remarked, we acquire new ideas so gradually, and allow them to mix with the old ones so silently, that we are often uncon- scious of the change, and find it difficult to trace the steps by which the transition has been effected, from a worse to a better informed state of mind. It is quite otherwise, however, when we are brought to such an extensive combination of new circumstances as we find crowded together at Niagara, for example, or at TeneriflPe, or at Canton. It then becomes absolutely necessary to the right application of this deluge of new facts, that we should make ourselves familiar with them by repeated and leisurely observation ; and bj^ teaching us how to disentangle one cir- cumstance from another, allow each to take its proper place in our minds, side by side, or to amalgamate with the results of previous experience. If this process be necessary in the case of a person who has actually reached the presence of such objects, it will easil}^ be seen how impossible it must be for him to describe, to the satisfaction of others, those things which, with all his local advantages, it costs him a long while to comprehend or to make any proper use of. Even on the spot, it is probable that the observer takes correct notice of a small part only of the objects presented to his view. Those, however, which he does remark, straight- Avay suggest images in his mind, suitable to his own particular character, and of course essentially modified by the peculiar circumstances of his past life. Now, if we suppose it possible that he could describe, with what is called perfect or graphic fidelity, both the facts themselves which strike his senses, and the ideas which arise in his mind from a contemplation of them, the chances are still infinitely against these recorded conceptions being found suitable to the minds of his different readers. At the very best, the idea suggested to others by his description, must inevitably be feeble and incomplete in comparison with his own. For, it must always be remem- bered, that his impressions are not produced by the observa- 130 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA- tions of a series of details, considered one after another^ — tlie only method in which a reader can view them, — hut are stamped upon his mind and feelings at the moment, by the ■whole in combination. The process of reading a description, in short, is like that of taking a telescope to pieces, and look- ing at the distant object through each separate lens, — instead of making them all bear upon one another by appropriate adjustments in the tube. There is absolutely no remedy for this but a journey to the place, and the superior enjoyment of the traveller on such occasions is the reward which he gathers for the privations of the road. Nevertheless, this laborious experiment will not always answer; for many persons, even when looking at these Falls, are as much disappointed as the man who expected to understand a book by putting on spectacles, though he had never learned to read. The common-place maxim, therefore, so frequently rung in the ears of travellers, not to attempt what is called descrip- tion, but to tell what their own genuine feelings are upon these occasions, must often fail to produce any effect, purely from the absence of that kindred sympathy, which no Avriter can or ought to suppose, extends in his own case, beyond the circle of friends to whom his habits of thinking are well known. Even if he could reckon upon a large audience who should understand him, the probability is he would not advance his object much. I have been led, by the superior interest and importance of Niagara, to apply these obser- vations chiefly to that wonderful scene ; but am of opinion that they might apply with equal force to most other circum- stances which rise up in every man's path who goes from home. All he can hope to do, therefore, I fear, is to sketch with fidelity the outlines of what he sees, and leave his draw- ings to be filled up by the various dispositions, and the different degrees of knowledge of his readers ; each one being left to colour the picture according to his own taste or fancy. By the time we reached Forsyth's Inn, close to the Falls on the English side, we had barely light enough left to see the CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. 131 cataract from the balcony of our bedroom — distant from it, in a straight line not two hundred yards. I cannot bring myself to attempt any description of the pleasure which we experienced, while thus sitting at ease, and conscious of view- ing, in sober reahty, and at leisure, an object with which we had been familiar, in fancy at least, all our lives. We passed the greater part of the 2d of July in roving about the banks and studying the Falls in as many different aspects as we could command. In the course of our rambles we met a gentleman who had resided for the last thirty-six years in this neighbourhood — happy mortal ! He informed us the Great Horse-Shoe Fall had during that period gone back forty or fifty yards — that is to say, the edge of the rock over which the water pours, had broken down from time to time to that extent. This account was corroborated by that of another gentleman, who had been resident on the spot for forty years. As these statements came from persons of good authority, I was led to examine the geological circumstances more par- ticularly ; for I could not conceive it possible, that the mere wearing of the water could perform such rapid changes upon hard limestone. The explanation is very simple, when the nature of the different strata is attended to. In the first place, they are laid exactly horizontal, the top stratum being a compact calcareous rock. In the next place, I observed, that in proportion as the examination is carried downwards, the strata are found to be less and less indurated, till, at the distance of a hundred feet from the topmost stratum, the rock turns to a sort of loose shale, which crumbles to pieces under the touch ; and is rapidly worn away by the action of the blasts of wind, rising out of the pool into which this enor- mous cascade is projected. In process of time, as the lower strata are fairly eaten or worn away, the upper part of the rock must be left without a foundation. But, owing to the nature of the upper strata, they continue to pro- ject a long way over before they break down. There must come periods, however, every now and then, when the over- 132 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. hanging rock, with such an immense load of water on its shouklers, will give way, and the crest or edge of the Fall will recede a certain distance. At the time of our visit, the top of the rock overhung the base, according to the rough estimate I made, between thirty-five and forty feet, thus forming a hollow space, or cave, between the falling water and the face of the rock. While the above lines Avere actually in the printer's hands, my eye was accidentally caught by the following paragraph in a newspaper : — " Niagara Falls. — A letter from a gentleman at that place, dated Dec. 30, 18.28, states, that on the Sunday evening pre- ceding, about nine o'clock, two or three successive shocks or concussions were felt, the second of which was accompanied by an unusual rushing sound of the waters. The next morn- ing it was discovered, that a large portion of the rock in the bed of the river, at the distance of about two-fifths from the Canada shore to the extreme angle of the Horse-Shoe, had broken off, and fallen into the abyss below. The whole aspect of the Falls is said to be much changed by this convulsion. A course of high winds for several days previous to its occur- rence, producing an accumulation of water in the river, is supposed to have been the immediate cause. This gradual crurabUng away of the rock over which the Niagara is pre- cipitated, adds plausibiHty to the conjecture, that the Falls were once as low down as Lewistown, and have for centuries been travelling up towards their present position." I visited on three different occasions the extraordinary cave formed between the cascade and the face of the overhang- ing clifi' — first, on the 3d of July, out of mere curiosity; again on the 9tli, to try some experiments with the baro- meter; and lastly on the 10th, in company with a friend, purely on account of the excitement which I found such a strange combination of circumstances produce. We reached a spot 153 feet from the outside, or entrance, by the assist- ance of a guide, who makes a handsome livelihood by this amphibious sort of pilotage. There was a tolerably good. CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. 133 green sort of light within this singular cavern; but the wind, blew us first in one direction, then in another, with such alarming violence, that I thought at first we should be fairly carried off our feet, and jerked into the roaring caldron beneath. This tempest, however, was not nearly so great an inconvenience as the unceasing deluges of water driven against us. Fortunately the direction of this gale of wind was always more or less upwards, from the pool below, right against the face of the cliffs ; were it otherwise, I fancy jt would be impossible to go behind the Falls, with any chance of coming out again. Even now there is a great appearance of hazard in the expedition, though experience shows that there is no real danger. Indeed the guide, to re-assure us, and to prove the difficulty of the descent, actually leaped downwards, to the distance of five or six yards, from the top of the bank of rubbish at the base of the cliffs along which the path is formed. • The gusts of wind rising out of the basin or pool below, blew so violently against him, that he easily regained the walk. This enormous cataract, like every other cascade, carries along with it a quantity of air, which it forces far below the surface of the water, — an experiment which any one may try on a small scale by pouring water into a tumbler from a height. The quantity of air thus carried down by so vast a river as Niagara, must be great, and the depth to which it is driven, in all probability, considerable. It may also be much condensed by the pressure ; and it will rise with proportionate violence both on the outside of the cascade, and within the sheet or curtain which forms the cataract. It had long been a subject of controversy, I was told, whether the air in the cave behind the Falls was condensed or rarefied ; and it was amusing to listen to the conflicting arguments on the subject. All parties agreed that there was considerable difficulty in breathing ; but while some ascribed this to a want of air, others asserted that it arose from the quantity being too great. The truth, however, obviously is. 134 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. that we have too much water ; not too much air. For I may- ask, with what comfort could any man l)reathe with half a dozen fire-engines playing full in his face ? and positively the effect of the blast behind the Falls is just what that awkward ceremony might be supposed to produce. The direction of the wind is first one way and then another, crossing and thwarting, in a very confused style, and flinging the water sometimes up, sometimes down, and often whirling it round and round like smoke, in curls or spirals, up to the very top of the cave, a hundred feet above our heads, to the very edge of the precipice, over which we could distinctly see the river projected forwards, and just beginning to curve downwards. By the way, I took notice that, exactly in pro- portion to the apparent thickness of the mass of water, so it continued united after passing the brink. But I do not think, at any part of Niagara, the sheet of falling water remains unbroken for more than twenty feet, and that only at one place, well known by the name of the Green Water — the most sublime and impressive part of the whole Fall. At every other, the cascade assumes a snowy whiteness very shortly after it begins to descend. This appearance is aided, no doubt, by the blast of wind which rises from the pool on the outside of the sheet; for I observed that the external surface of the cataract was roughened, or turned up in a series of frothy ripples, caused either by its Mction against the air through which it was passing, or more probably by the blast rising upwards from the pool. I remarked another singular phenomenon, which I have not happened to hear mentioned before, but which is evidently connected with this branch of the subject. A number of small sharp-pointed cones of water are projected upwards from the pool on the outside of the Fall, sometimes to the height of a hundred and twenty feet. They resemble in form some cornets of which I have seen drawings. Their point, or apex, which is always turned upwards, is quite sharp, and not larger, I should say, than a man's fingers and thumb CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. 135 brought as nearly to a point as possible. The conical tails which stream from these watery meteors may vary from one or two yards to ten or twelve, and are spread out on all sides in a very curious manner. The lower part of the Fall, it must be observed, is so con- stantly hidden from the view by a thick rolling cloud of spray, that during ten days I never succeeded once in getting a glimpse of the bottom of the falling sheet ; nor do I believe it is ever seen. Out of this cloud, which waves backwards and forwards, and rises at times to the height of many hundred feet above the Falls, these singular cones, or cornets, are seen at all times jumping up. The altitude to which they are projected, I estimated at about thirty feet from the top ; which inference I was led to by means of the sketches made with the Camera Lucida. I watched my opportunity, and made dots at the points reached by the highest of these curious projectiles. The whole height being between 150 and 160 feet, the perpen- dicular elevation to which these jets of water are thrown cannot therefore be less than 110 or 120 feet above the surface of the pool. The controversy respecting the elasticity of the air behind the Fall was soon settled. I carried with me a barometer made expressly with a view to this experiment. It was of the most delicate kind, and furnished with two contrivances absolutely indispensable to the accuracy of experiments made under such circumstances. The first of these was a circular spirit-level placed on the top of the frame holding the tube, by which the perpendicularity of the instrument was ascer- tained; and, secondly, an arrangement of screws near the point of support, by which the tube, when duly adjusted, could be secured firmly in its place. By the help of these two inventions of Mr, Adie of Edinburgh, this instrument can be used with confidence, although exposed to such furious storms of wind and rain, as that I have been describing. These simple additions to the barometer, it may be men- tioned, give great facility to observations made for the deter- 136 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. mination of the height of mountains, as it secures the correct position of the instrument, however windy the station may be. The mercury stood, at two stations on the outside, at 29° 68'. The instrument was then carried behind the Falls, and placed near the Termination Rock, as an impassable angle of the cliff is called, which lies at the distance of 153 feet from the entrance, measuring from the Canadian or western extremity of the Great Horse-Shoe Fall. It now stood at about 29° 72'. The thermometer in both cases being at 70° of Farenheit. The inner station was probably ten or twelve feet lower than the external one ; and it wall be easily understood, that in such a situation, with a torrent of water pouring over the instrument and the observer, and hard squalls or gusts of wdnd threatening to whisk the whole party into the abyss, there could be no great nicety of readings. I observed, that within the Fall, the mercury vibrated in the tube about four-hundredths of an inch, and was never per- fectly steady ; the highest and lowest points were therefore observed by the eye, and the mean recorded. During the external observations there was only a slight tremor visible on the surface of the column. In order to prevent mistakes, I repeated the experiment at another spot, about 120 feet within the entrance, when the mercury stood at about 29^^ 74' though still vibrating several hundredths of an inch. Upon the whole, then, considering that the inner stations w'ere lower than the external one, the small difference between the external and the internal readings may be ascribed to errors in observation, and not to any difference in the degree of elasticity in the air without and within the falling sheet of water. Though I was only half an hour behind the Fall, I came out much exhausted, partly with the bodily exertion of main- taining a secure footing while exposed to such buffeting and drenching, and partly I should suppose from the interest belonging to the scene, which certainly exceeded anything I ever witnessed before. All parts of Niagara, indeed, are on a scale which baffles every attempt of the imagination to CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. 137 paint, and it were ridiculous, therefore, to think of describing it. The ordinary materials of description, I mean analogy, and direct comparison with things which are more accessible, fail entirely in the case of that amazing cataract, which is altogether unique. Yet a great deal, I am certain, might be done by a well- executed panorama, drawn from below, at a station near the projecting angle of the rock, which must be passed, after leav- ing the bottom of the ladder, on the way to the cave I have been speaking about. An artist well versed in this peculiar sort of painting, might produce a picture which would probably distance every thing else of the kind. He must not however, trust to the sketches of others, but go to the Falls himself; and then become acquainted with those feelings which the actual presence of the stupendous scene is capable of inspiring. For without some infusion of these local senti- ments into his painting, were it ever so correct an outline, the result would be nothing more than a large picture of a large waterfall, instead of the noblest, and perhaps the most popular, of those singular works of art, which, by a species of magic, transport so many distant regions to our very doors. On Sunday night, the 8th of July, we again visited the Falls, and walked down to the Table Rock to view them by moonlight. Our expectations, as may be supposed, were high, but the sight was even more impressive than we had expected. It possessed, it is true, a more sober kind of interest than that belonging to the wild scene behind the sheet of water above described. I may mention one curious effect : it seemed to the imagination not impossible that the Fall might swell up, and grasp us in its vortex. The actual presence of any very powerful moving object, is often more or less remotely connected with a feeling that its direction may be changed ; and when the slightest variation would prove fatal, a feeling of awe is easily excited. At all events, as I gazed upon the cataract, it more than once appeared to increase in its volume, and to be accelerated in its velocity, till my heated fancy became strained, alarmed, and so much 138 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. overcrowded with new and old images, all exaggerated, that, in spite of the conviction that the whole was nonsense, I felt obliged to draw back from the edge of the rock ; and it required a little reflection, and some resolution, to advance again to the brink. On the 1st of August, 1827, I drove once more to the Falls, intending merely to bid good-by to them, and come away, I therefore left the carriage at the top of the bank, and said to the coachman that he need not take out his horses, but wait in the shade before the inn, till I came up again from the Table Rock. Tiiis was at noon, but it was not till three o'clock that I could disentangle myself from the scene. Indeed, to speak without exaggeration or affectation, I must own, that upon this visit — the last, in all human probability, I shall ever pay to these Falls — I was almost overwhelmed (if that be the proper word to use) with the grandeur of this extraordinary spectacle. I felt, as it were, staggered and confused, and at times experienced a sensation bordering on alarm — I did not well know at what — a strong mysterious sort of impression that something dreadful might happen. At one moment I looked upon myself as utterly insignificant in the presence of such a gigantic, moving, thundering body — and in the next, was puffed up with a sort of pride and arrogant satisfaction that I was admitted into such company, and that I was not altogether wasting the opportunity : at others 1 gave up the reins of my imagination altogether, and then tried to follow, but with no great success, some of the innumerable trains of wild and curious reflec- tions which arose in consequence — though, after all, nothing can be conceived more vague than those wandering thoughts, except it be their present ghostlike recollection. During three hours, which I am disposed to reckon as the most interesting of my whole life, my mind was often brought back from such fanciful vagaries with a sudden start^only, however, to relapse again and again. More than once I really almost forgot where I was, and became more than half conscious that I saw millions and millions of tons of water CAPTAIN BASIL HALL. 139 dashing down before me at every second, at the distance of only a few yards ; and even ceased to recollect that the sound I heard came from the greatest cascade in the world. Still, however, in spite of these abstractions — which I made no attempt to restrain — I was all the while sensible that something very delightful was passing. The effect of this mighty cataract upon the mind, might perhaps be worthy of the attention of a metaphysician. With me, at least, the influence of one overpowering but indefinite sensation absorbed the active operation of the senses, and produced a kind of dizzy reverie, more or less akin to sleep, or rather to the intoxication described by opium- eaters, during which a thousand visions arose connected with the general sentiment of sublimity. And it may help to give some idea of the extravagant length to which the over- indulged fancy can carry the dreamer on such occasions, to mention that once, for some seconds, I caught myself think- ing that I had fairly left this lower world for the upper sky — that I was traversing the heavens in company with Sir Isaac Newton, — and that the sage was just going to tell me about the distance of the fixed stars ! The awakening, if so it may be called, from these roving commissions of the mind, to the stupendous reality, so far from being accompanied by the disappointment which usually attends the return-voyage from these distant regions in the world of fancy, was gratifying far beyond what I remember to have experienced upon any former occasion, during a life of pretty constant and high enjoyment. This, and a hundred other extravagances which I could add upon the subject, however absurd they must of course seem in sober prose, may possibly give some notion of the effect produced by looking at the Falls of Niagara — an effect analogous, perhaps, to that produced on the mind of the poet by ordinary circumstances, but which less imagi- native mortals are made conscious of only on very extraor- dinary occasions. K 2 140 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. BATTLES BRIDGES.— PLACES OF RESORT.— MINERALS, &c. In the immediate vicinity of the Falls, many incidents have occurred to impart au additional interest. This was the scene of a number of battles fought during the last war with Great Britain ; those at Fort Erie, ChippcAva, and Lundy's Lane, were among the most bloody and hard fought that are recorded in history. In the battle near Fort Erie^ there was what has generally been considered, a military chef-d^oeuvre ; the Americans, to the number of 1000 regulars and 1000 of the militia, made a sortie and took the British works about 500 yards from their line, and returned in triumph. The battles in this region occurred in the fol- lowing order, viz : at Queenston, October 13, 1812 ; at York, April 27, 1813 ; at Fort George, May 27, do. ; at Stoney Creek, June 5, do. ; at Beaver Dam, June 21, do. ; Naval Battle on Lake Erie, September 10, do. ; the village of Niagara Falls, Lewiston, and Youngstown liurnt, December 19, do. ; Buffalo and Black Rock burnt, December 31, do. ; Fort Erie taken July 3, 1814 ; battle of Chippewa, July 6, do. ; at Bridgewater or Lundy^s Lane, July 25, do. ; at Fort Erie, August 15, and September 17, 1814. The burning of villages and plunder of property on the frontier, are still remembered, and the circumstances detailed with thrilling interest, by many of the inhabitants. In the year 1817, a bridge was constructed from the shore across the rapids to the head of Goat Island, but was swept away by the ice the ensuing spring. The present bridge was constructed in 1818, and is forty-four rods in length, exclu- sive of Bath Island. This bridge, though crossing the foam- ing rapids only sixty-four rods above the Falls, over which visitors are at first disposed to Avalk lightly and with quick- ened pace, is perfectly safe for all kinds of teams and carriages, and seems destined to stand a great length of time. Multitudes inquire, with wonder and eager curiosity, how it BATTLES, BRIDGES, ETC. 141 could have been constructed in this imminently dangerous place. They shall be informed ; and they will see that, like a thousand other difficult things, it was easily accomplished, when the mode was ascertained. Two very long timbers were thrust out from the shore on an abutment, having the forward ends elevated a little above the rapids and tlie others firmly secured upon the bank : these were then covered with plank for a temporary bridge. At the extremity of this bridge, very large stones were let down into the river, around which timbers were sunk, locked together so as to form a frame, which was afterwards filled with stone. To this, con- stituting the first pier, a firm bridge was then constructed, and the temporary bridge shoved forward so as to build a second pier like the first, and so on till the whole was com- pleted. The honour of projecting and constructing this bridge belongs jointly and equally to the proprietors, the Hon. Augustus and General Peter B. Porter. Till the year 1817, there was no way of descending or ascending the bank below the Falls, except by a ladder, about one hundred feet in length : since then a safe and convenient flight of stairs has been built, by which visitors can have an easy descent to the ferry, and an opportunity to pass a con- siderable distance behind the magnificent sheet of water. Perhaps there is no place where the height of the Fall is so impressively realized as here. There are a number of pretty establishments at the Falls, where are kept on hand rich specimens of the mineral fossil, vegetable and animal productions of the vicinity. Among these establishments, as a place of resort, Mr. W. E. Hulett's, deserves a conspicuous notice. His place is directly opposite the Cataract Hotel, and visitors will there find a library, reading-room, billiard-room, &c. &c., and a most splendid collection of minerals, both from the vicinity of the Falls, and from other parts of the United States. Mr. A. B. Jacobs, on Bath Island, Mr. S. Hooker, and some others, on the American side ; and Mr. Barnett, at his 142 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. IMuseum, INIr. Starkey and Mr. Slmltersburgh, on the Canada sidcj keep on hand an assortment of mineralogical speci- mens, a variety of elegant articles of Indian manufacture, caneSj &c. Among the minerals kept for sale, are trans- parent selenites ; snow-white gypsum ; calcareous, bitter, dog-tooth, and fluor spar ; crystallized quartz ; petrifactions ; favasites and other fossils ; shells, &c. . There are also some uoble sj)ecimens of bald and gray eagles, with which this region abounds. THE HERMIT OF THE FALLS.— BY MRS. SIGOURNEY. It was the leafy month of June, And joyous nature all in tune. With ■wreathing buds was drest. As towards Niagara's fearful side A youthful stranger prest ; His ruddy cheek was blanched with awe, And scarce he seemed his breath to draw. While bending o'er its brim. He marked its strong, unfathomed tide. And heard its thunder-hymn. His measured week too quickly fled. Another, and another sped, And soon the summer-rose decayed, The moon of autumn sank in shade, Years filled their circle, brief and fair, Yet still the enthusiast lingered there, Till winter hurled its dart. For deeper round his soul was wove A mystic chain of quenchless love. That w ould not let him part Wlien darkest midnight veiled the sky, You'd hear his hasting step go by, THE HERMIT OF THE FALLS. 143 To gain the bridge beside the deep, That where its wildest torrents leap Hung threadlike o'er the surge. Just there, upon its awful verge, His vigil hour to keep. And when the moon descending low. Hung on the flood that gleaming bow, "Which it would seem some angel's hand. With heaven's own pencil, tinged and spanned. Pure symbol of a Better Land, He, kneeling, poured in utterance free The eloquence of ecstasy ; Though to his words no answer came, Save that One, Everlasting Name, Which since Creation's morning broke, Niagara's lip alone hath spoke. When wintry tempests shook the sky. And the rent pine-tree hurtled by, Unblenching mid the storm he stood, And marked, sublime, the wrathful flood. While wrought the frost-king fierce and drear. His palace mid those clifi's to rear. And strike the massy buttress strong, And pile his sleet the rocks among. And wasteful deck the branches bare With icy diamonds, rich and rare. Nor lacked the hermit's humble shed Such comforts as our nature ask To fit them for their daily task. The cheering fire, the peaceful bed. The simple meal in season spread : — While by the lone lamp's trembling light. As blazed the hearth-stone clear and bright. O'er Homer's page he hung, 144 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Or Maro's martial numbers scanned, For classic lore of many a land Flowed smoothly o'er his tongue. Oft with rapt eye, and skill profound, He woke the entrancing viol's sound. Or touched the sweet guitar, Since heavenly music deigned to dwell An inmate in his cloistered cell. As beams the solemn star All night, with meditative eyes. Where some lone rock -bound fountain lies. As through the groves with quiet tread. On his accustomed haunts he sped. The mother-thrush unstartled sung Her descant to her callow young. And fearless o'er his threshold prest The wanderer from the sparrow's nest ; The squirrel raised a sparkling eye. Nor from his kernel cared to fly. As passed that gentle hermit by ; No timid creature shrank to meet His pensive glance serenely sweet ; From his own kind, alone, he sought The screen of solitary thought. Whether the world too harshly prest. Its iron o'er a yielding breast. Or taught his morbid youth to prove The pang of unrequited love. We know not, for he never said Aught of the life that erst he led. On Iris isle, a summer bower He twined with branch, and vine, and flower. And there he mused, on rustic seat. Unconscious of the noon-day heat. Or 'neath the crystal waters lay Luxuriant, in the swimmer's play. THE HERMIT OF THE FALLS. 145 Yet once the whelming flood grew strong, And bore him like a weed along, Though Avith convulsive grasp of pain, And heaving breast, he strove in vain. Then sinking ^neath the infuriate tide, Lone as he lived, the hermit died. On, by the rushing current swept. The lifeless corse its voyage kept. To where, in narrow gorge comprest. The whirling eddies never rest. But boil with wild tumultuous sway. The maelstrom of Niagara. And there within that rocky bound. In swift gyrations round and round. Mysterious course it held. Now springing from the torrent hoarse. Now battling as with maniac force, To mortal strife compelled. Right fearful 'neath the moombeam bright, It was to see that brow so white, And mark the ghastly dead Leap upward from his torture-bed. As if in passion-gust. And tossing wild with agony. To mock the omnipotent decree. Of dust to dust. At length, Avhere smoother waters flow. Emerging from the gulf below. The hapless youth they gained, and bore Sad to his own forsaken door : There watched his dog, with straining eye. And scarce would let the train pass by. Save that with instinct's rushing spell, Through the changed cheek's empurpled hue, And stifi^ and stony form, he knew The master he had loved so well. 146 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. The kitten fair, whose graceful wile So oft had won his musing smile, As round his slippered foot she played. Stretched on his vacant pillow laid. While strewed around, on board and chair, The last plucked flower, the book last read, The ready pen, the page outspread. The water-cruse, the unbroken bread. Revealed how sudden was the snare That swept him to the dead. And so he rests in foreign earth. Who drew mid Albion^s vales his birth ; Yet let no cynic phrase unkind Condemn that youth of gentle mind. Of shrinking nerve and lonely heart, And lettered lore, and tuneful art. Who here his humble worship paid In that most glorious temple-shrine, Where to the Majesty divine Nature her noblest altar made. No, blame him not, but praise the Power Who in the dear, domestic bower. Hath given you firmer strength to rear The plant of love, with toil and fear. The beam to meet, the blast to dare, And like a faithful soldier bear; Still with sad heart his requiem pour. Amid the cataract^s ceaseless roar. And bid one tear of pitying gloom Bedew that meek enthusiast's tomb. About fifteen years since, in the glow of early summer, a young stranger, of pleasing countenance and person, made his appearance at Niagara. It was at first conjectiu-ed that he might be an artist, as a large portfolio, with books and musical instruments, were observed among his baggage. He THE HERMIT OF THE FALLS. 147 was deeply impressed by the majesty and sublimity of the cataract, and its surrouudiug scenery^ and expressed an intention to remain a week, that he might examine it accu- rately. But the fascination which all minds of sensibility feel, in the presence of that glorious work of the Creator, grew strongly upon him, and he was heard to say, that six weeks were inadequate to become acquainted with its outlines. At the end of that period, he was still unable to tear him- self away, and desired to " build there a tabernacle,'' that he might indulge both in his love of solitary musings, and of nature's sublimity. He applied for a spot upon the island of the " Three Sisters," where he might construct a cottage after his own model, which comprised, among other peculiarities, isolation by means of a drawbridge. Circumstances forbid- ding a compliance with his request, he took up his residence in an old house upon Iris Island, which he rendered as comfort- able as the state of the case would admit. Here he con- tinued about twenty months, until the intrusion of a family interrupted his recluse habits. He then quietly withdrew, and reared for himself a less commodious shelter, near Pros- pect Point. His simple and favourite fare of bread and milk was readily purchased, and whenever he required other food, he preferred to prepare it with his own hands. When bleak winter came, a cheerful fire of wood blazed upon his hearth, and by his evening lamp he beguiled the hours with the perusal of books in various languages, and with sweet music. It was almost surprising to hear, in such depth of solitude, the long-drawn, thrilling tones of the viol, or the softest melodies of the flute, gushing forth from that low-browed hut ; or the guitar, breathing out so lightly, amid the rush and thunder of the never-slumbering torrent. Yet, though the world of letters was familiar to his mind, and the living world to his observation, for he had travelled widely, both in his native Europe, and the East, he sought not association with mankind, to unfold, or to increase his stores of knowledge. Those who had heard him converse. 148 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. spoke with surprise and admiration of his colloquial powers^ his command of language, and the spirit of eloquence that flowed from his lips. But he seldom, and sparingly, admitted this intercourse, studiously avoiding society, though there seemed in his nature nothing of moroseness or misanthropy. On the contrary, he showed kindness to even the humblest animal. Birds instinctively learned it, and freely entered his dwelling, to receive from his hands crumbs or seeds. But the absorbing delight of his existence was communion with the mighty Niagara. Here, at every hour of the day or night, he might be seen, a fervent worshipper. At gray dawn, he went to visit it in its fleecy veil ; at high noon, he ban- queted on the full splendour of its glory ; beneath the soft tinting of the lunar bow, he lingered, looking for the angel's wing, whose pencil had painted it ; and at solemn midnight, he knelt, soul-subdued, as on the footstool of Jehovah. Neither storms, nor the piercing cold of winter, prevented his visits to this great temple of his adoration. When the frozen mists, gathering upon the lofty trees, seemed to have transmuted them to columns of alabaster, when every branch, and shrub, and spray, glittering with transparent ice, waved in the sunbeam its coronet of diamonds, he gazed, unconscious of the keen atmosphere, charmed and chained by the rainbow-cinctured cataract. His feet had worn a beaten path from his cottage thither. There was, at that time, an extension of the Terrapin Bridge, by a single shaft of timber, carried out ten feet over the fathom- less abyss, where it hung tremulously, guarded only by a rude parapet. To this point he often passed and repassed, amid the darkness of night. He even took pleasure in grasping it with his hands, and thus suspending himself over the awful gulf; so much had his morbid enthusiasm learned to feel, and even to revel, amid the terribly sublime. Among his favourite, daily gratifications, was that of bath- ing. The few who interested themselves in his welfare, supposed that he pursued it to excess, and protracted it after the severity of the weather rendered it hazardous to health. THE HERMIT OF THE FALLS. 149 He scooped out, and arranged for himself, a secluded and romantic bath, between Moss and Iris Islands. Afterwards, he formed the habit of bathing below the principal Fall. One bright, but ratlier chill day, in the month of June, 1831_, a man employed about the ferry, saw him go into the water, and a long time after, observed his clothes to be still lying upon the bank. Inquiry was made. The anxiety was but too well founded. The poor hermit had indeed taken his last bath. It was sup- posed that cramp might have been induced by the unwonted chill of the atmosphere or water. Still the body was not found, the depth and force of the current just below, being exceedingly great. In the course of their search, they passed onward to the whirlpool. There, amid those boiling eddies, was the pallid corse, making fearful and rapid gyrations upon the face of the black waters. At some point of suction, it suddenly plunged and disappeared. Again emerging, it was fearful to see it leap half its length above the flood, and with a face so deadly pale, play among the tossing billows, then float motionless, as if exhausted, and anon, returning to the encounter, spring, struggle, and contend like a maniac battling with mortal foes. It was strangely painful to think that he was not permitted to find a grave, even beneath the waters he had loved ; that all the gentleness and charity of his nature, should be changed by death to the fury of a madman; and that the king of terrors, who brings repose to the despot and the man of blood, should teach warfare to him who had ever worn the meekness of the lamb. For days and nights this terrible purgatory was prolonged. It was on the 21st of June that, after many eff'orts, they were enabled to bear the weary dead back to his desolate cottage. There they found his faithful dog guarding the door. Heavily must the long period have worn away, while he watched for his only friend, and wondered why he delayed his coming. He scrutinized the approaching group suspici- 150 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. ously, and would not willingly have given them admittance, save that a low, stifled wail at length announced his intuitive knowledge of the master, whom the work of death had eflFectually disguised from the eyes of men. They laid him on his bed, the thick, dripping masses of his beautiful hair clinging to, and veiling the features so late expressive and comely. On the pillow was his pet kitten : to her, also, the watch for the master had been long and weari- some. In his chair lay the guitar, whose melody was probably the last that his ear heard on earth. There were also his flute and violin, his portfolio and books, scattered and open, as if recently used. On the spread table was the untasted meal for noon, which he had prepared against his return from that bath which had proved so fatal. It was a touching sight ; the dead hermit mourned by his humble retainers, the poor animals who loved him, and ready to be laid by stranger- hands, in a foreign grave. So fell this singular and accomplished being, at the early age of twenty-eight. Learned in the languages, in the arts and sciences, improved by extensive travel, gifted with personal beauty and a feeling heart, the motives for this estrangement from his kind are still enveloped in mystery. It was, however, known that he was a native of England, where his father was a clergyman; that he received from thence ample remittances for his comfort ; and that his name was Francis Abbot. These facts had been previously ascer- tained, but no written papers were found in his cell, to throw additional light upon the obscurity in which he had so eff"ec- tually wrapped the history of his pilgrimage. That he was neither an ascetic nor a misanthrope, has been sufficiently proved. Why he should choose to withdraw from society, which he was so well fitted to benefit and to adorn, must ever remain unexplained. That no crime had driven him thence, his blameless and pious life bare witness to all who knew him. It might seem that no plan of seclusion had been deli- REV. R. C. WATERSTON. 151 berately formed^ until enthusiastic admiration of the unpar- alleled scenery among which he was cast, induced, and for two years had given it permanence. And if any one could be justified for withdrawing from life's active duties, to dAvell awhile with solitude and contemplation, would it not be in a spot like this, where nature ever speaks audibly of her majestic and glorious Author? We visited, in the summer of 1844, the deserted abode of the hermit. It was partially ruinous, but we traced out its different compartments, and the hearth - stone, where his winter evenings passed amid books and music, his faithful dog at his feet, and on his knee his playful, happy kitten. At our entrance, a pair of nesting - birds flew forth affrighted. Methought they were fitting representatives of that gentle spirit, which would not have disturbed their tenantry, or harmed the trusting sparrow. If that spirit had endured aught from man, which it might neither recover nor reveal; if the fine balance of the intellect had borne pressure until it was injured or destroyed ; we would not stand upon the sufferer's grave to condemn, but to pity. We would think with tenderness of thee, erring and lonely brother. For at the last day, when the secrets of all are unveiled, it will be found that there are sadder mistakes to deplore than thine : — time wasted idly, but not innocently, — and talents perverted, without the palliation of a virtuous life, the love of nature, or the fear of God. EXTRACT FROM A LETTER ADDRESSED TO MISS CARPENTER, OF BRISTOL, ENGLAND. (By the Rev. R. C. Waterston, of Boston, America.) " Oct. 1844. " It was the first time I had visited the Falls. Two miles above these we could distinctly see the foaming breakers of the ' rapids,' dashing up twenty or thirty feet. We arrived at the Chfton Hotel about noon ; and there before us 153 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. thundered Niagara. We went over to Table Kock. Who can describe that scene ? One mass of water, 2000 feet in extent, rolling majestically over a perpendicular height of 160 feet ; one dense, awful mass of unbroken water, like an ocean bursting from its confines ; and the water of the most exquisite colour that can be conceived ; a transparent green, more beautiful than anything I ever beheld, rolliiDg, rushing down into the boiling abyss, from which rises up for ever the dense and sparkling foam and mist, crowned with resplendent rainbows. We went down to the foot of Table Rock. I never felt as at that spot ; I do not think it possible to feel any- where else as there. We remained at the Falls four days; two on the American, and two on the British side. To behold this cataract, three-fourths of a mile in extent, coming down as from the very heavens, — is an era in one's life ; it is worth crossing the Atlantic to behold." The following lines were written in June 1844, at Niagara, by the writer of the preceding letter: . . . '^ Thou look'st eternal ! But the time shall be, When thou, dread torrent, shalt be seen no more. When God shall seal the fountains of thy sea. And hush the mighty thunders of thy roar. Chaos may rend thine adamantine floor ; The heavens and earth be shrivell'd as a scroll : Then what art thou to JNIan, whose mind shall soar Above the wreck of worlds, a living soul. To press for ever on while endless ages roll !" INCIDENTS. Men have occasionally been drawn into the rapids with their boats, and carried over the Falls ; but not a vestige of them or their boats has scarcely ever been found. The great depth of the water below, and the tumultuous agitation occasioned by the eddies, whirlpools, and counter-currents, make it next INCIDENTS. 153 to impossible for anything once sunk to rise again, until carried so far down the stream as to make fruitless any research. In the year 1820, two men, in a state of intoxication, fell asleep in their scow Avhich was fastened at the mouth of Chippewa Creek ; while there, it broke away, and they awoke finding themselves beyond the reach of hope, dashing over the rapids. . In the year 1822, two others, engaged in removing some furniture from Grand Island, were by some carelessness drawn into the rapids, and hurried over the cataract. In 1825, two more, in attempting to smuggle some whiskey across to Chippewa, were hurried into the rapids and shared a similar fate. A story has frequently been told of an Indian, who fell asleep in his canoe some miles above, and awoke in the midst of the rapids ; perceiving that all efforts to escape would be vain, he turned his bottle of whiskey down his throat, and composedly awaited the awful plunge. This story the writer believes to be fabulous, as he has never been able to find any foundation for it, except that it is a stereotype Indian story, told as having happened at all the difi'erent Falls in the country. In September 1827, notice having been given in the news- papers that the Michigan, a large vessel that had run on Lake Erie, would be sent over the Falls, thirty thousand people, it was supposed, assembled to witness the novel spectacle. On board of this vessel were put two bears, a buffalo, two raccoons, a dog, and a goose ; the bears leaped off in the midst of the rapids, and, miraculously almost, finally reached the shore in safety. The others went over and perished. The Michigan, before she reached the Falls, having been con- siderably broken in the rapids, sunk to a level with the sur- face, and went over near the centre of the Horse- Shoe Fall. The distance from deck to keel was sixteen feet; and as she did not appear to touch the bottom for eighty rods before she went over, the conchision is, that the water as it passes over the precipice there must be at least twenty feet deep. 154 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. In October 1829, another A^essel, the Superior, was adver- tised to be sent over, which drew together about fifteen thousand people. This vessel lodged in the rapids and remained a number of weeks, and finally passed over the Falls in the night. In August 1828, a small sloop, abandoned by the men through fright, near tlie mouth of Chippewa Creek, was blown with all her sails up, so far across the river as to come down on the American side of Goat Island ; but was broken to a perfect wreck in the rapids, so as to pass under the bridge and over the Falls. In July 1832, a canal boat was blown over from Chippewa, and lodged in the rapids a short distance above the bridge. Some men and one woman were on board, and were saved at most imminent peril, and the boat was finally secured and drawn ashore. The rock at the Falls is hard limestone to the depth of about seventy feet, below which it is loose, crumbling shale, which is constantly wearing away and leaving a pro- jection of the limestone. A mass of Table Rock, 160 feet in length and from thirty to forty feet in width, fell off in July 1818, with a tremendous crash. On the 9th of December 1828, three immense portions broke from the Horse-Shoe Fall, causing a shock like an earthquake. Another large portion fell in the summer of 1829, and the noise it occasioned was heard several miles. And yet, judging from the published accounts of the Falls, which reach back nearly two hundred years, there has been but very little recession of the Falls within that period. In October 1829, Sam Patch jumped twice, in the presence of thousands of spectators, from the top of a ladder ninety- seven feet high, into the eddy below the Falls. This ladder was erected directly below the Biddle-Staircase. Poor Sam afterwards lost his life by jumping from the Falls of Genesee Hiver, at Rochester. May 19, 1835, two men in attempting to pass down the river from Tonawanda to Chippewa in a scow, were driven by INCIDENTS. 155 the winds into the rapids, and one of them went over the Falls ; the other, after leaping from the scow, reached a shoal where he could stand in the water with his head out. In this situation he was seen from the American shore; and two men, at the imminent hazard of their lives, went out in a hoat, and succeeded in saving him, and returning safely to shore. Again, June 10, 1835, two men, in passing from Schlosser to Chippewa, in a skiflF, were drawn into the rapids, and hurried to destruction. While in the rapids, they were seen for a short time by persons on the Pavilion. Some days afterwards, their bodies were found in an eddy a mile below the Falls, one of which was deprived of a leg and an arm. Another melancholy incident happened on the night of December 29, 1837, while tlie patriots were in possession of Navy Island. The steamboat Caroline, Avhile lying at Schlos- ser, was at midnight attacked by a party of Canadian soldiers and one person killed. She was then towed out into the stream, set on fire, and was carried over the Falls by the current. Nothing was to be found of her the next morning except a small quantity of the wreck, which was thrown upon the shore below the Falls. The history of this boat was somewhat singular; she was originally built at Charleston, South Carolina, Avas from thence brought to New York, from thence to Albany, and from Albany she was brought through the Erie and Oswego Canals to Lake Ontario, and from Lake Ontario through the Welland Canal to Chippewa, U. C, between which place and BuflPalo she plied for some time as a passage-boat ; until she was seized by the Collector of Buffalo, condemned, and sold for a violation of the revenue laws, and at length, during the Canadian disturbances, finished her career by a leap down the awful abyss of Niagara. An occurrence of the most thrilling interest took place July 25, 1839, while the workmen were employed in repairing the bridge to Iris Island. A man by the name of Chapin, while at work upon a staging, about 100 feet from the island, accidentally lost his l2 156 DESCRIPTIOXS 0¥ NIAGARA. footing and was precipitated into the rapids, and in an instant swept away towards the great cataract. Speedy destruction seemed to await him ; but fortunately he was uninjured by the fall, and in this condition retained his self-possession. He succeeded, by great dexterity in swimming, in effecting a landing upon a little island, the outermost of a group of little cedar islands, situated some thirty or forty yards above the Falls, between Goat Island and the American shore. There he remained for an hour, looking beseechingly back upon the spectators who lined the shore, among whom were his wife and children, and with whom he could hold no com- munication on account of the distance and the roar of the Falls. In this emergency, Mr. J. R. Robinson^ a man of extraordinary strength and intrepidity, and an excellent boatman, generously volunteered his serA'ices to attempt his rescue. A light boat of two oars, similar to the Whitehall race-boats, was soon procured, and he embarked. He proceeded with great deliberation and skill, darting his little boat across the rapid channels, and at the intervening eddies, holding up, to survey his situation and recover strength. As he neared the island, a rapid channel still inter- vened, rendering the attempt to land very hazardous. He paused for a moment; and then with all his strength, darted across and sprang from his boat — his foot slipped, and he fell backward into the rapid current. With the most consum- mate coolness and skill, he retained his grasp on the boat, sprang in, and seizing his oars, brought up under the lee of the little island. Still the great labour and hazard of the undertaking remained to be overcome. Robinson proved equal to the task. Taking his companion on board in the same careful and deliberate manner, though at infinitely greater hazard and labour, they effected a safe landing upon Goat Island. There the spectators assembled to give them a cordial greeting. A scene of great excitement ensued. The boat was drawn upon the bank, and by acclamation a collec- tion was taken up on the spot for Chapin and his noble- hearted deliverer. It was generously made, and thankfully VILLAGE OF NIAGARA FALLS. 157 received ; but the reflection to Robiuson that he has rescued a fellow-creature under such circumstances^ will be to his generous heart a much richer and more lasting reward. Robinson and Chapin were placed in the boat by the spec- tators and carried in triumph^ to the village. VILLAGE OF NIAGARA FALLS.— NUMBER OF VISITORS. The country in the immediate vicinity of the Falls on both sides of the river, presents many powerful attractions for a permanent residence. For salubrity of air and healthful- iiess of climate, it yields to no spot in the United States. Here, " Nature hath The very soul of music in her looks, The sunshine and the shade of poetry." The latitude here is forty-three degrees six minutes north, and the longitude two degrees six minutes west from Wash- ington. The winters are generally much milder than in New England, owing, as supposed, to the action of the two neigh- bouring lakes, that lie on either side. In a pamphlet published in London in the year 1834, written by Robert Burford, Esq., who spent the summer and autumn of 1833, in taking a panoramic view of the Falls, it is stated that this place is "without all question, the most healthful of any on the continent of North America. The heat of summer can there be borne with pleasure, while at the same time, the annoyance of musquitoes and other insects is unknown. Various are the conjectures whence arises the remarkable salubrity of this region ; but the most natural is, that the agitation of the surrounding air produced by the tremendous Falls, combines with the elevation and dryness of the soil, and absence of swamps, to produce this happy result." In the summer of 1832, when the cholera raged in all the 158 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. villages around, as Buffalo, Lockport, Lewiston, &c., not a single case occurred here. Again, when this disease visited many villages in the vicinity, in the summer of 1834, this place was wholly exempt. The village of Niagara Falls on the American side, for- merly called Manchester, contains about 500 inhabitants. There are two spacious hotels in the village, the Eagle and the Cataract, which will accommodate a large number of permanent guests. The latter is kept by Gen. P. Whitney & Sons, favourably known here in the business. Gen. Whitney has been engaged in this business for nearly twenty years. The Eagle Hotel, formerly kept by T. W. Fanning, and now by Messrs. C. B. Griffon & Co. A most splendid hotel was commenced by the celebrated Benjamin Rathbun, in the year 1836, and the foundation and basement were completed, when the astounding development of that per- son's affairs rendered it necessary for him to assign all his property, and all operations on the building in question ceased. It is hoped, however, that the building will be com- pleted by the present proprietors. The village also contains a Presbyterian Church, and a " Union House," for the use of all other denominations when they choose to come to it. It has a Paper Mill, a Flouring Mill, and a few Mechanics' shops ; and there is an opportunity of using water here to an unlimited extent. Canal boats and sloops come from the Erie Canal and the Lake to Porter's Store-house, a short distance above the Falls. There are three railroads now finished, which termi- nate at Niagara Falls. One from Buffalo^ distant twenty- two miles — one from Lockport, and one from Lewiston. Stage-coaches run from the Falls in all directions, and the mail passes regularly twice every day. The roads from Buffalo, Lewiston, and Lockport are now very good; equal to any in this region, and afford to travellers many delightful views of the river, the Falls, and the rapids ;— especially as the road from Buffalo to Lewiston passes very near the bank of the river the whole distance. The steamljoat Red Jacket VILLAGE OF NIAGARA FALLS. 159 also runs daily from Buffalo to tlie landing, two miles above tlie Falls, and thence across to Chippewa^ and returns daily by tlie same route. This is a perfectly safe and very pleasant route to the Falls. At Lewiston, seven miles below, steam- boats from Lake Ontario are daily bringing and receiving passengers. Near Lewiston commences the celebrated Ridge Road, — formerh^j without doubt, a sand-bank on the margin of Lake Ontario, — and runs east to Rochester, and thence nearly to Oswego, a distance of about 140 miles. It ruus parallel with the lake, from six to ten miles distant, is from forty to eighty yards Avide, thirty feet higher than the conti- guous land, and 139 feet higher than the lake. It is an excellent road at all seasons of the year. The number of visitors at the Falls has of late years been from twelve to fifteen thousand annually, and the number is every year increasing. On the occasion of sending the Michigan over the Falls, some years since, from thirty to fifty thousand persons were supposed to be here together ; and when the Superior was sent over, fifteen thousand. The fashionable, the opulent, and the learned, congregate here from the principal cities of the country ; from the Southern and Western States, South America, the West Indies, the Canadas, all parts of Europe, and indeed from all countries. Exiled monarchs, foreign ambassadors, whigs, tories, radi- cals, royalists, naval and military officers, governors, judges, lawyers, senators, &c., with a good proportion of female worthies, assemble here to view these indescribable works of God, One of these last, during a visit here in the summer of 1834, penned the following beautiful lines, which are worthy of being preserved as a memorial of female worth and genius. NIAGARA. Flow on for ever, in thy glorious robe Of terror and of beauty ! God hath set His rainbow on thy forehead, and the cloud Mantles around thy feet. And he doth give IGO DESCUIPTIONS OF NIAGARA, The voice of thunder, power to speak of Him Eternally — bidding the lip of man Keep silence, and upon thy rocky altar pour Incense of awe-stricken praise. And who can dare To lift the insect trump of earthly Hope, Or Love, or Sorrow, — mid the peal sublime Of thy tremendous hymn ? — E'en Ocean shrinks Back from thy brotherhood, and his wild waves Retire abashed. — For he doth sometimes seem To sleep like a spent labourer, and recall His weary billows from their vexing play. And lull them in a cradle calm ; — but thou. With everlasting, undecaying tide. Dost rest not, night or day. The morning stars. When first they sang o'er young Creation's birth. Heard thy deep anthem — and those wreaking fires That wait th' Archangel's signal to dissolve The solid Earth, shall find Jehovah's name Graven, as with a thousand diamond spears. On thy unfathomed page. Each leafy bough. That lifts itself within thy proiid domain. Doth gather greatness from thy living spray. And tremble at the baptism. Lo ! yon birds. Do venture boldly near, bathing their wing Amid thy foam and mist. — 'Tis meet for them To touch thy garment's hem, — or lightly stir Tlie snowy leaflets of thy vapour- wreath, — Who sport unharmed upon the fleecy cloud. And listen at the gates of Heaven, AVithout reproof. But, as for us, — it seems Scarce lawful with our broken tones to speak Familiarly of thee. Methinks, to tint Thy glorious features with our pencil's point Or woo thee to the tablet of a song, Were profanation. NUMBER OF VISITORS. 161 Thou dost make the soul A wondering^ witness of thy majesty ; And while it rushes with delirious joy To tread thy vestibule, dost chain its steps, And check its rapture, with the humbling view Of its own nothingness — bidding it stand In the dread presence of th' Invisible, As if to answer to its God through thee. Hartford, Conn. L. H. SiGOURNEY. This will no doubt hereafter become a place of great resort for invalids, as the health of such is generally observed to improve immediately on coming here. If any place in the country is peculiarly propitious for the recovery and preser- vation of health, this is the place. During the winter months, though there are so many visitors, they are generally such as are passing through the region on business, and stay only a short time. Frequently however, parties from Buffalo, Lockport, Uochester, Canan- daigua^ and other places, visit the Falls by sleighing; and after spending a day or two, go aAvay enraptured with the scene. Many visitors err greatly in their calculation in regard to the time which they ought to spend here. They come hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles to view the Falls, and then hurry away before they have had time to get any very full or distinct impression of the scene, or to visit one-fifth of the interesting points, from which the Falls and rapids ought to be viewed. The object of the visit is thus in a great measure lost. Visitors should make their calcu- lations, in the summer especially, to spend at least a week. Persons who spend some time at the Falls, will find several places in the vicinity, on both sides of the river, worthy a special visit. Eleven miles south, on the American side, is the village of Tonawanda, from which there is a ferry across to White Haven on Grand Island ; proceeding eleven miles further, you pass through Black Rock to Buffalo and 162 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Lake Erie. One mile below the Falls, is Point View, so called; one mile fuvtlicr you find the Mineral Spring; one mile further the Whirlpool ; half a mile further, the Devil's Hole ; eight miles from the Falls, the village of the Tus- carora Indians; seven miles, Lewiston village, where the steamboats from Lake Ontario receive passengers; seven miles below Lewiston is the village of Youngstown, and one mile further, Fort Niagara, standing on the border of Lake Ontario. From the Falls on the Canada side, one mile south brings you to the burning spring; two and a half miles to Chippewa battle ground and village ; twenty miles through the village of Waterloo to Fort Erie near Lake Erie. From the Falls north, one mile brings you to Lundy's Lane, where the battle of Bridgewater was fought ; three and a half miles to the Wliirlpool ; six and a half to Queenston Heights and Brock's Monvuuent ; seven miles to Queenston village, oppo- site LeAviston ; and fourteen miles to the village of Niagara and Fort George. Eight miles from the Falls west, is the " Deep Cut," so called, of the Welland Canal, a place much visited in the summer. To carry you to any or all these places, carriages can always be had at a few moments' notice on either side of the river. CONCLUSION OF PRESIDENT DVVIGHT'S ACCOUNT. . . . " The emotions, excited by the view of this stupen- dous scene, are unutterable. When the spectator contem- plates the enormous mass of water, pouring from so great a height, in sheets so vast, and with a force so amazing; when, turning his eye to the flood beneath, he beholds the immense convulsion of the mighty mass, and listens to the majestic sound which fills the heavens ; his mind is over- whelmed by thoughts too great, and by impressions too powerful, to permit the current of the intellect to flow with DUKE DE LIANCOURT. 163 serenity. The disturbance of his mind resembles that of the waters beneath him. His bosom swells with emotions never felt, hi's thoughts labour in a manner never known, before. The conceptions are clear and strong, but rapid and tumul- tuous. The struggle within is discovered by the fixedness of his position, the deep solemnity of his aspect, and the intense gaze of his eye. All these impressions are heightened by the slowly ascending volumes of mist, rolled and tossed into a thousand forms with the varying blast, — and by the splendour of the rainbows successively illuminating their bosom. At the same time he cannot but reflect that he is surveying the most remarkable object on the globe.''^ The following singular and fanciful observations are to be found in the Duke de Liancourt's account of his visit to the Falls in 1795. "From a country almost level, a chain of naked rocks here rises, upon both sides of the river, which at this point is contracted to the width of a single mile ; these are the Alle- ghany Mountains, which extend to this point after having traversed the continent of North America from Florida upon the South. " Mons. de Blacons conducted us to a point known, in the language of the country, as Table Rock. This is itself part of the rock from which the river is precipitated, and we found it barely above the level of the river^s bed, and almost within its rushing waters ; so that we saw, with entire safety the plunge of the torrent into the basin at our feet, and yet should have been hurled headlong down the cataract our- selves, had we advanced but two paces further ! From this position we enjoyed, at the same instant, the august spectacle of the foaming waters, as with a deafening roar they approached, through the rapids, this astonishing cataract, and 164 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. of the eddying basin below, in wliicli but an instant after- wards, these same waters were ingulfed. It is certainly while standing at this point that this wonder of nature should be contemplated and studied, if the spectator is to view it from only one j but to drink in all its majesty, it is necessary to observe it from all, since from whatever position the beholder still finds the scene one of confounding and over- whelming admiration, bordering upon stupefaction. " The Falls of Niagara are comparable to nothing in nature. Neither the agreeable, the rude, the romantic, nor the beautiful enters into the scene ; but wonder and wild astonishment at first sight seizes upon all the faculties, and their dominion is constantly strengthened by subsequent and profound contemplation of the picture, until the mind is finally convinced of its utter inability to convej^ or communi- cate the impressions so deeply stamped upon it by this terrific sport of nature." The following is from the pen of the Rev. Andrew Reed, author of that simple, yet beautiful work, " No Fiction ;" and is, we think, a most happy efibrt, and by far the best descrip- tion we ever met with, embodied in so few words. " At length we saw the spray rising through the trees, and settling like a white cloud over them ; and then we heard the voice of the mighty waters — a voice all its own, and worthy of itself. Have you never felt a trembling backwardness to look on what you have intensely desired to see ? If not, you will hardly understand my feeling. While all were now searching for some glance of the object itself, I was disposed to turn aside, lest it should surprise me. This no doubt was partly caused by the remark I had so often heard, that the first view disappoints you. I concluded, that this arose from the first view not being a fair one, and I was determined to do justice REV. ANDREW REED. 1G5 to the object of my reverence. In fulfilling this purpose, I reached the Pavilion without seeing anything ; disposed of my affairs there, and hastened down towai-ds the Falls ; and found myself actually on the Table Rock, to receive my first impressions. " Let any one pursue the same course, and he will not talk of first impressions disappointing him ; or if he should, then he ought to go twenty miles another Avay ; Niagara was not made for him. " From the Table Rock I descended to the base. — There I clambered out on the broken rocks, and sat — I knoAv not how long. The day was the least favourable of any we had. The atmosphere was heavy; the foam hung about the object, and concealed one half of it ; and the wind blew from the opposite side, and brought the spray upon you so as to wet you exceed- ingly. The use of cloak or umbrella was troublesome ; you could not wholly forget your person, and think only of one thing. However, had I not seen it in this state of the atmos- phere I should have wanted some views which now occupy my imagination. The whole is exceedingly solemn when nature frowns ; and when much is hidden, while yet the eye has not marked the outline, there is a mysteriousuess spread over the object which suits your conception of its greatness, and in which the imagination loves to luxuriate. I can scarcely define to you my impressions on this first day ; I can scarcely define them to myself. I was certainly not disap- pointed ; but I was confounded. I felt as though I had received a shock, and required time to right myself again. " I returned to the Pavilion, which is about half a mile from the Falls, and retired to my chamber, which overlooked them. I mused on what I had seen, and was still confounded. I sought rest, that I might be fresh for the morrow ; but rest did not come so freely. The continuous deep sounds of the waters would have sung me to sleep, but the tremor of the house and ground, which shook the window like those of a stage-coach, kept me wakeful ; and wheu I fell into slumbers. 166 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. the flitting dreams of what I had seen wouhl trouble and break them. " Notwithstanding all disturbances, I rose on the next morning in good spirits. The day was all that could be wished. The sun shining, the heavens transparent, garnished with bright and peaceful clouds. The wind, too, was gentle and refreshing ; and had shifted to our side, so as to promise the nearest points of sight without the discomfort of getting wet through. " I now look fairly on the scene as it presented itself at my window, in the fair lights of the morning. It is composed rather of the accompaniments of the Fall than of the Fall itself. You look up the river full ten miles, and it runs in this part from two to three miles in breadth. Here, it has formed in its passage beautiful little bays ; and there, it has worked through the slips of main-land, putting out the frag- ments as so many islets to decorate its surface; while, on either hand, it is bounded by the original forests of pine. At the upper extremity you see the blue waters calmly resting under the more cerulean heavens ; while nearer to you it becomes agitated, like a strong man preparing to run a race. It swells, and foams, and recoils, as though it were committed to some desperate issue; and then suddenly contracts its dimensions, as if to gather up all its power for the mighty leap it is about to make. This is all you see here ; and it is enough. " I left the hotel, and went down to the Table Rock ; this is usually deemed the great point of sight, and for an upper view it undoubtedly is. It is composed of several ledges of rocks, having different advantages, and projecting as far over the gulf below as they can to be safe. But how shall I describe the objects before me ! The mysterious veil which lay heavily yesterday on a large part of it, was now removed, and the outine of the picture was mostly seen. An ordinary picture -would have suffered by this ; but here the real dimen- sions are so vast, and so far beyond what the eye has REV, ANDREW REED. 107 measured, that to see them is not to fetter, but to assist the imagination. This Fall, which is called the Horse- Shoe Fall, is upwards of two thousand feet in extent, and makes a leap, on an average, of about 160 feet. Now, just enlarge your con- ceptions to these surprising dimensions, and suppose yourself to be recumbent on the projecting rock which I have named, as near the verge as you dare, and I will assist you to look at the objects as they present themselves. " You see not now above the cataract the bed of the river, but you still see the foaming heads of the rapids, like waves of the ocean, hurrying to the precipice ; and over them the light clouds which float on the horizon. — Then comes the chute itself. It is not in the form of the Horse-Shoe; it is not composed of either circular or straight lines; but it partakes of both ; and throughout it is marked by projec- tions and indentations, which give an amazing variety of form and aspect. With all this variety it is one. It has all the power which is derived from unity, and none of the stiffness which belongs to uniformity. There it falls in one dense awful mass of green waters, unbroken and resistless . here it is broken into drops, and falls hke a sea of diamonds sparkling in the sun. Now, it shoots forth like rockets in endless succession; and now, it is so light and foaming that it dances in the sun as it goes ; and before it has reached the pool, it is driven up again by the ascending currents of air. Then there is the deep expanding pool below. — Where the waters pitch, all is agitation and foam, so that the foot of the Fall is never seen ; and beyond it and away, the waters spread themselves out like a rippling sea of hquid alabaster. This last feature is perfectly unique, and you would think nothing could add to its exquisite loveliness ; but there lies on it, as if they were made for each other, " heaven's own bow." Oh, never had it, in heaven itself, so fair a resting- place ! " Besides, by reason of the different degrees of rarity in the waters and the atmosphere, the sun is pervading the whole scene with unwonted lights and hues. And the foam 168 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. "which is flying off" in all directions, is insensibly condensed, and forms a pillar of cloud, which moves over the scene, as it once did over the tents of Israel, and apparently by the same bidding, giving amazing variety, sublimity, and unearthliness to the picture. Then there is sound as well as sight ; but what sound ! it is not like the sea ; nor like the thunder ; nor like anything I have heard. There is no roar, no rattle; nothing sharp or angry in its tones ; it is deep, awful, one ! " Well, as soon as I could disengage myself from this spot, I descended to the bed of the Fall. I am never satisfied with any Fall till I have availed myself of the very lowest stand- ing it supplies : it is there usually that you become suscep- tible of its utmost power. I scrambled, therefore, over the dislocated rocks, and put myself as near as possible to the object which I wished to absorb me. I was not dis- appointed. " There were now fewer objects in the picture, but what you saw had greater prominence and power over you. Every- thing ordinary — foliage, trees, hills — was shut out ; the smaller attributes of the Fall were also excluded ; and I was left alone with its own greatness. At my feet the waters were creaming, swelling, and dashing away, as if in terror, from the scene of conflict, at the rate of twenty miles an hour. Above and overhanging me was the Table Rock, with its majestic form, and dark and livid colours, threatening to crush one. While immediately before me was spread in all its height and majesty — not in parts, but as a whole, beyond what the eye could embrace — the unspeakable cataract itself : with its head now touching the horizon, and seeming to fall direct from heaven, and rushing to the earth with a weight and voice which made the rocks beneath and around me fearfully to tremble. Over this scene the cloud of foam mj'steriously moved, rising upward, so as to spread itself partly on the face of the Fall, and partly on the face of the sky : while over all were seen the beautiful and soft colours of the rainbow, forming almost an entire circle, and crowning it with celestial glory. But it is in vain. The power, the REV. ANDREW REED. 169 sublimity, the beautj', tlie bliss of that spot, of that hour — it cannot be told. " When fairly exhausted by intensity of feeling, I strolled away towards the ferry, to pass over to the American side. The Falls here, from the distance, have a plain and uniform aspect : but this wholly disappears on approaching them. They are exceedingly fine. They do not subdue you as on the Canada side ; but they fill you with a solemn and delight- ful sense of their grandeur and beauty. The character of the one is beautiful, inclining to the sublime ; and that of the other, the sublime, inclining to the beautiful. There is a single slip of the Fall on this side, which, in any other situation, would be regarded as a most noble cataract. It falls nearly 200 feet ; it is full twenty feet wide at the point of fall, and spreads itself like a fan in falling, so as to strike on a line of some fifty or sixty feet. It has great power and beauty. " I found that there was a small ledge of rock behind this Fall, and ventured on it to about the centre. You can stand here without getting at all wet ; the waters shoot out several feet before you ; and, if you have nerve, it is entirely safe. I need not say that the noveltj^ and beautj^ of the situation amply reward you. You are behind the sheet of water, and the sun is shining on its face, illuminating the wdiole body with a variety proportioned to its density. Here, before you, the heavy waters fall in unbroken columns of bright green. There, they flow down like a shower of massy crystals, radiant with light, and emitting as they fall all the prismatic colours ; while there, again, they are so broken and divided as to resemble a shower of gems sparkling in the light, and shoot- ing across the blue heavens. " I passed by what is called Goat Island to the extremity of the Horse-Shoe Fall on this side. There is carried out over the head of this Fall a limb of timber, with a hand-rail to it. It projects some twelve feet over the abyss, and is meant to suppl}^ the place of the Table Rock on the other side. It does so in a great measure ; and as, while it is quite 170 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. as safe, it gives you far less sense of safety, it disposes you the more to sympathize with objects of terror. Indeed, when you fairly get to the extremity, and find yourself standing out in this world of waters on a slip of wood only large enough for your feet to rest on, and which is quivering beneath you ; when the waters are rushing down under you ; when the spray is flying over you ; and when the eye seeks to fathom the unfathomable and boisterous gulf below ; you have, perhaps, as much of the terrible as will consist with gratification. Very many of the visitors never think of encountering this point of view ; those who do, and have a taste for it, will never forget it. It is among the finest of the fine. " In returning, I wandered round the little island. It is covered with forest trees of a fine growth, and is full of pic- turesque beauty. Days might be spent here in happy and deep seclusion : — protected from the burning sun ; regaled by lovely scenes of nature, and the music of the sweetest Avaters; and in fellowship, at will, with the mighty Falls. " The next morning was the last ; and it was given wholly to the Great Fall. I prepared, in the first instance, to go behind it. This is the chief adventure ; and is by most writers described as dangerous. There is no danger if the overhanging rocks keep their places, and if you have moderate self-possession. I made use of the oil-cloth dress provided by the guide, and was quarrelling with it as damp and uncomfortable; but that grievance was quickly disposed of, I had not made my entrance behind the scenes before I was drenched, and the less I had on the better. However, it was an admirable shower-bath ; and there was an end to the question of wet or dry. " Take care of your breath," was the cry of the guide ; and I had need, for it was almost gone. On making a further advance, I recovered it, and felt relieved. " Now give me your hand," said the guide ; " this is the narrowest part." Onward I went, till he assured me that I was on Termination Rock : the extreme point acces- sible to the foot of man. IIEV. ANDREW KEED. 171 " As the labour of the feet was over, and there was good standing, I determined on making the best use of my eyes* But this was not so easy to do. The spray and waters were driving in my face, and coursing down my sides most strangely: a strong wind from the foot of the Fall was driving in the opposite direction, so as to threaten not to blow me down, but to blow me up to the roof of the vault. However, I soon ascertained that we were at the extremity of a cavern of a large and wonderful construction. It is in the form of a pointed arch ; the one span composed of rolling and dense water, and the other of livid-black rocks. It was some fifty feet from the foot of the rock to that of the water, and I had entered about seventy feet. On the entrance, which is mostly of thinner waters, the sun played cheerfully, and with glowing power ; but within, it was contrasted by the dim light and heavy obscurity which are generated by the density of the fall, to which the whole power of the sun can give only a semi-transparency. What with this visible gloom, the stunning noise of the Fall, and the endless com- motion of wind and waters, the effect is most singular and awful. It is a scene that would harmonize with the creations of Fuseli; and it has, I will venture to say, real horrors beyond what the cave of old ^olus ever knew. " On returning to my dressing-room, I received a cer- tificate from the guide that I had really been to Termina- tion Rock ; an ingenious device to give importance to his vocation, but in the success of which he does not miscal- culate on human nature. The rest of the morning was employed in taking peeps at the Falls from favourite points of observation ; but chiefly from the Table Rock, and at the foot of the Great Falls. The day was exceedingly fine, and every feature of the amazing scene was lighted up with all its beauty ; and I now communed with it as one would Avith a friend who has already afforded you rich enjoyment in his society. I was delighted — was fascinated. Everything, apart or together, seemed to have acquired greater power and expression. I studied all the parts; they were exquisite. 173 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. lovely, noble ; I put them all together, and it overwhelmed me, subdued me, fixed me to the spot. Long I stayed; but all time was short. I went, and returned; and knew not how to jro." DISTANCES. From Steamboat Landing across to Chippewa .... Miles 2^ From Fort Schlosser to Chippewa, „ 1^ From the Falls to Chippewa „ 2 Across the River at the Falls, „ | To Goat Island by the Bridge, Rods 58 Across the Falls on the American side, „ 56 Across the foot of Goat Island, „ 80 Length of Goat Island, „ 160 Across the Horse-Shoe Fall, „ 114 From the Eagle and Cataract Hotels to Table Rock, Miles li- From the above Hotels to the top of the bank,. . . . Rods 100 Top of the bank down the Staircase to the River. . „ 28 Width of river at the Ferry, „ 76 Up the Canada bank, „ 76 From the Falls to the Mineral Springs, Miles 3 To the Whirlpool, „ 3 To the Devil's Hole, „ 3i To Erie Canal at Tonawanda, „ 11 To Buffalo, „ 22 To Lockport, „ 18 To Lewiston, „ 7 Depth of water at the Horse-Shoe, Feet 20 Depth of water at the Feri'v, „ 250 IA€AIRA MIYEM. aRd FARTS ^4UJACENT- £.'.\/un, j-c.^ 174, e^^^'"" ^.c"^' ADDRESS TO THE NIAGARA RIVER. rr^.^^■i (From tlio Spanish of Jose Maria Hereclia.) — United States Review, and Liter ury Gazette. Tremendous Torrent ! for an instant liush The terrors of tliy voice, and cast aside Those wide-involving shadovrs ; that mine eyes INIay see the fearful beauty of thy face. I am not all-unworthj^ of thy sight ; For, from my very boyhood, have I loved, — Shunning the meaner track of common minds, — To look on nature in her loftier moods. At the fierce rushing of the hurricane, At the near bursting of the thunderbolt, I have been toucliM with joy; and when the scfi, Lash'd by the wind, hath rock'd my bark, and showed Its yawning caves beneath me, I have loved Its dangers, and the wrath of elements. Thou flowest on in quiet, till thy waves Grow broken midst the rocks ; thy current, then. Shoots onward, like the irresistible course Of destiny. How terribly they rage, — The hoarse and rapid whirlpools there ! My brain Grows wild, my senses wander, as I gaze Upon the hurrying waters ; and my sight Vainly would follow, as toward the verge Sweeps the wide torrent : waves innumerable Meet there and madden ; waves innumerable Urge on and overtake the waves before. And disappear in thunder and in foam. They reach, they leap, the barrier; the abyss Swallows, insatiable, the sinking waves ; A thousand rainbows arch them, and the woods Are deafened with the roar. The violent shock Shatters to vapour the descending sheets ; A cloudy whirlwind fills the gulf, and bears The mighty pyramid of circling mist To heaven. The solitary hunter, near. Pauses with terror, in the forest shade. ADDRESS TO THE NIAGARA RIVER. 175 God of all truth ! in other lands, I've seen Lying philosophers, blaspheming men, Questioners of thy mysteries, that draw Their fellows deep into impiety ; And therefore doth my spirit seek thy face In earth's majestic solitude. Even here My heart doth open all itself to Thee : In this immensity of loneliness, I feel thy hand upon me. To my ear The eternal thunder of the cataract brings Thy voice, and I am humbled as I hear. Dread torrent ! that with wonder and with fear. Dost overwhelm the soul of him that looks Upon thee, and dost bear it from itself : Whence hast thou thy beginning ? Who supplies. Age after age, thy unexhausted springs ? What power hath order'd, that, when all thy weight Descends into the deep, the swollen waves Rise not, and roll to overwhelm the earth ? The Lord hath open'd his omnipotent hand. Covered thy face with clouds, and given his voice To thy down-rushing waters ; he hath girt Thy terrible forehead with his radiant bow. I see thy never-resting waters run. And I bethink me how the tide of time Sweeps to Eternity. So pass, of man — Pass like a noon-day dream — the blooming days, And he awakes to sorrow Hear, dread Niagara ! my latest voice ! — Yet a few years, and the cold earth shall close Over the brow of him who sings thee now Thus failingly. Would that this my humble verse Might be, like thee, immortal ! I, meanwhile, Cheerfully passing to the appointed rest. Might raise my radiant forehead in the clouds To listen to the echoes of my fame. 176 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. HYMN ON NIAGARA.— BY THOMAS GRINFIELD, M.A. " Where Niagara stuus with thundering sound." Goldsmith's 'Deserted Village.' An antliem, ' like the sound of many waters V The prophet heard it, as in wondrous vision He lay intranced upon the cliffs of Patmos ; And wouldst thou hear its emblem, go and listen, In deep and dread delight, to Niagara ! That everlasting anthem which hath peal'd, Nor paus'd a moment, from the birth of ages ! And, fitting emblem of celestial chorus. The loud eternity of rushing music Disturbs not, but subdues and fills, the spirit With feelings of unutterable stillness,* And infinite tranquillit}^ excluding The world with all its dissonance of passions. There, too, a cloud of ever-offer'd incense From nature's altar, — in the vapoury column On which bright rainbows beam the smiles of mercy, — Hath risen well-nigh six thousand years to heaven. In unison with that astounding chorus Of multitudinous and white-robed waters. So glorious in the fury of their rapture Around their awful and mysterious centre ! And oft, stupendous Cataract, as winter Comes listening to thy choral hallelujahs. And gazing on thy pomp of rising incense ; With mimic semblance of some mighty temple He loves to grace thee, and thy shaggy borders Fantastically silvers o'er with frost-work ; Pranking with icy pinnacles and pillars The walls of thy magnificent Cathedral :t But ne'er Cathedral own'd a crypt so dreadful As thine, o'er-arch'd with such a thundering deluge. * Charles Dickens records this impression, t Mrs. Jameson describes its weighty magnificence. I THE GENIUS OF NIAGARA. 177 And still the thunder of the eternal anthem, And still the column of ascending incense. Shall draw remotest pilgrims to thy worship. Shall hold them breathless in thy sovereign presence, And lost to all that they before had looked on j Yea, conjiu''d up by strong imagination, Shall sound in ears that never heard the music, Shall gleam in eyes that ne'er beheld the vision ; Till the great globe, with all that it inherits. Shall vanish, — like that cloud of ceaseless incense, — In thunder, — like that falling world of waters. Oh pearless paragon of earthly wonders ! Embodying, in their most intense expression. Beauty, sublimity, might, music, motion. To fix and fill at once eye, ear, thought, feeling ; And kindling, into unknown exaltation. Dread and delight, astonishment and rapture ! Sure God said, let there be a Niagara ! And, lo, a Niagara heard His bidding ; And glimmer'd forth a sparkle of His glory. And whispered here the thunder of Omnipotence ! Clifton, April, 1839. THE GENIUS OF NIAGARA. BY THE REV. JOHN C. LORD, D.D. Proud demon of the waters — thou Around whose stern and stormy brow Circles the rainbow's varied gem The Vapour- Spirit's diadem — While rushing headlong at thy feet. The everlasting thunders meet. Thronged on the mists, around thy form Is dashing an eternal storm. 178 ' DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Whose ceaseless, changeless earthquake-shock The tempests of Old Ocean mock. And the dark Sea King yields to thee, The meed of might and majesty. Depth, sound, immensity, have lent Their terrors to thy element ; Thy congregated waters yell Down caverns fathomless as hell. While Heaven's glorious hues are set About thy gorgeous coronet. Titanic Winter strives in vain To bind thee in his icy chain. Which rent by thy resistless wave Finds in thy fearful depths — a grave; Or the torn fragments glistening lie In the glare of thy kingly eye. A silvery web among thy trees, Unruffled by the passing breeze. The vanquished Ice-King for thee weaves. And gives them gems for winter leaves. And rears thee columns, bright and vast, Their radiance through thy halls to cast. The Giant Time hath never yet His footsteps in thy waters set ; Grimly passing this Fall, he tries To watch his by-gone centuries Along the dark and devious track Of this rock-crashing-cataract. Emblem of power — the mighty sun Hath found and left thee roaring on, Thou wert with Chaos, ere his light Shone out upon the starless night. Sole relic of that awful day When all in wild confusion lay. FAREWELL TO NIAGARA. IJiJ And when our earth, and sea, and sky Formless again together lie — When judgment-fires are kindling o'er, Old Nature's wreck — Niagara's roar First echo in the ear of Time, Shall sing his requiem sublime. — The last leap of thy waves shall be The sign of his death-agony. FAREWELL TO NIAGARA. BY MBS. SIGOURNEY. My spirit grieves to say. Farewell to thee, Oh beautiful and glorious ! Thou dost robe Thyself in mantle of the coloured mist. Most lightly tinged, and exquisite as thought. Decking thy forehead with a crown of gems Woven by God's right hand. Hadst thou but wrapped Thy brow in clouds, and swept the blinding mist In showers upon us, it had been less hard To part from thee. But there thou art, sublime In noon-day splendour, gathering all thy rays Unto their climax, green, and fleecy white. And changeful tincture, for which words of man Have neither sign nor sound, until to breathe Farewell is agony. For we have roamed Beside thee, at our will, and drawn thy voice Into our secret soul, and felt how good Thus to be here, until we half implored. While long in wildering ecstasy we gazed. To build us tabernacles, and behold Always thy majesty. 1 180 DESCRIPTIONS OF NIAGARA. Fain would we dwell Here at thy feet, and be tliy worshipper. And from the Aveariness and dust of earth Steal evermore away. Yea, were it not That many a care doth bind us here below, And in each care, a duty, like a flower. Thorn-hedged, perchance, yet fed with dews of heaven. And in each duty, an enclosed joy, Which like a honey-searching bee doth sing, — And were it not, that ever in our path Spring up our planted seeds of love and grief. Which we must watch, and bring their perfect fruit Into ovir Master's garner, it were sweet To linger here, and be thy worshipper. Until death's footstep broke this dream of life. THE END. LONDON: FISHER, SON, AND CO., PRINTERS ► I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0014 108 1974