Another place from which the Falls assume, if possible, a more striking and awful at the bottom of the cataract.

appearance, is The precipice,

such a height, forces its way to the bottom. Here, forming a curve, it begins to ascend. The current is, however, checked in every stage of its progress by the immeasurable weight of the superincumbent water. The motion upward must therefore become slow, divided, and irregular. In these circumstances, instead of a current, there must obviously be a general agitation, an universal heaving; such as might be expected from the throes. of an earthquake. As the ascending current is thus broken, and enervated, before it reaches the surface, the surface is not billowy, but comparatively level. The wavy, tossed aspect of other streams, immediately below their cataracts, is the result of a force, applied at the surface; or of a current, descending only to a moderate depth. In the present case, as the ascending current comes from a depth so vast, it almost equally affects the whole mass, and cannot disturb the common level by the smallest fluctuations. The whole appearance, however, made an impression on the mind, of an agitation incalculably greater, and a force far more astonishing, than that, which produces the loftiest billows of the ocean. This was a scene, which I was unprepared to expect, and an exhibition of the force of water, which I had never before imagined.

"Of the singular depth of the river at this place, no spectator will ask for proof. To others it may be alleged, that a deep stream, from two to three and a half miles wide, is here contracted at once to somewhat less than half a mile; that logs, and other substances, after descending the precipice, continue buried a long time before they emerge; and that this immense mass of water, plunging from such a height, has been so long and so unceasingly excavating the bed below."

+ I cannot describe the view from this point in more appropri ate language, than in that of Doctor Dwight:

"The emotions," says he, "excited by the view of this stupendous scene, are unutterable. When the spectator casts his

leading to this spot, is descended by means of a ladder, commonly called the Indian ladder,—a piece of mechanism simply consisting of a cedar-tree, the boughs of which are lopped off at a sufficient distance from the trunk to make them answer all the purposes of irregular steps. After descending this ladder, the perpendicular height of which is upwards of sixty feet, you proceed along the edge of the river, which is covered with broken rocks, the wrecks of boats, and other exuvia, until you arrive at the bottom of the Horse-shoe Fall. From this place, visitors frequently proceed on foot several hundred yards within a prodigious sheet of caverned water, which is formed by the overshooting of the cataract. But they must be men of the firmest nerve, who venture on such a daring excursion; for the most undaunted resolution is

eye over the long ranges of ragged cliffs, which form the shores of this great river below the cataract; cliffs one hundred and fifty feet in height, bordering it with lonely gloom and grandeur, and shrouded every where by shaggy forests; when he surveys the precipice above, stretching with so great an amplitude, rising to so great a height, and presenting in a single view its awful brow, with an impression not a little enhanced by the division, which the island forms between the two great branches of the river; when he contemplates the enormous mass of water, pouring from this astonishing 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 overwhelmed by thoughts too great, and by impressions too powerful, to permit the current of the intellect to flow with serenity."

in danger of being shaken, on looking upward at the impending rock, which continually seems to bend, and groan beneath the rolling flood to which it serves as a fearful support or aqueduct. From the projecting edge of this rock, the mass of waters is impelled forward, and leaves a large and smooth expanse, which reaches from the natural sheet of falling water to the very base of the gradually undermined mountain. If the atmosphere be dense, it is still more dangerous to engage in the bold attempt of exploring the stable foundations of the embedded river; for people at such times not unfrequently lose the power of respiration in proceeding far beneath the rocky ceiling. + Notwith

+ Professor Dwight has satisfactorily accounted for the difficulty occasionally experienced by those pedestrians who try to get behind the screen of falling waters, by walking along the slippery banks of the river from the bottom of the ladder already described. He has proved, that the height of the river, both above and below the Falls, depends upon the quarter from which the wind blows. "Lake Erie," he says, "is regularly raised at the Eastern end [where the Falls commence] by every wind, blowing between the North-west and the South-west.

Westerly wind elevates the surface six feet above its ordinary level. The river must of course be proportionally elevated; and at the outlet must, when such a wind blows, be six feet higher than the general water-mark. Of this, also, the proof is sufficient, if it can need proof, in the appearance of the banks; which bear evident marks of having been washed to a considerable height above the common surface of the stream. All parts of the river must of course partake of this elevation. At the cataract, and at the entrance into Lake Ontario, it must be higher than usual, as well as at its efflux from Lake Erie. Immediately below the cataract, the ele

standing this and various other dangers, to which all are equally exposed, who venture to sail any considerable distance under the rock, the native fishermen frequently continue there for hours together, apparently without any apprehension of danger. The river, immediately beneath the Falls, affords a greater quantity of fish than are to be found in any other piece of water of the same extent in the world. Snakes of different descriptions also abound upon the banks: These, when combined with the other terrors of the place,-the frightful roar of the cataract, and the troubled aspect of the river,-tend powerfully to augment the fearful propensities of the astonished visitor.

The whole breadth of the precipice, or Falls, including the islands which intervene, is 1,335 yards. The greatest body of water falls on the Canadian side of the river, and on account of the form assumed by the waters before they are dashed from the top of the rocks, is designated the HORSE-Shoe FALL. It extends from the shore to the interme

vation must, I think, be at least six feet; for the river, though more rapid, is scarcely half so wide as at the efflux. On the contrary, whenever the wind blows from the North-east, the only easterly wind which in this region is of any importance, the waters of Lake Erie must recede of course, and fall considerably below their usual level. Whenever this is the fact, the river also will be necessarily lower than at any other time."

In the latter case, travellers may advance dry-shod along the banks behind the immense sheet of water; but the attempt must be dangerous, whenever the wind blows from any point between the North-west and South-west.

diate island, a distance of 600 yards. FORT SCHLOPER FALL, which is on the American side, presents a sheet of water 350 yards in width; and the Little Fall extends across a ledge of rocks for upwards of 140 yards. The quantity of water, which pours over all three, in every minute, is estimated at 169,344,000 gallons.

Many stories are told of the melancholy fate of persons, who, at various times, have been carried down the rapids in attempting to sail across the river which flows above; but, I believe, the only well-authenticated anecdote of this kind, relating to the disasters of former days, is that of an Indian. This unfortunate child of nature, having become intoxicated with liquor after a fishing excursion, made his canoe fast to a rock a few miles above the Falls; and, reclining on the bow, fell asleep. By some unknown accident, the canoe was loosed from its moorings, and immediately floated down the current. While the surface of the water continued to be smooth, the slumbers of the unconscious man were undisturbed; but when his frail bark entered on the rapids, and became agitated by the eddies, he suddenly awoke as if from a frightful dream, terrified with the roaring of the cataracts, to which he was then fast approaching. On perceiving his perilous situation, and recovering a little from his first astonishment, he laid hold upon his paddle, and used the most violent exertions to escape from the impending destruction. When his repeated failures to avert the