14? Mr. Fairholme on the Falls of Niagara 



at most places, nearly perpendicular, without any interval 

 being left between them and the river, or any rounding of 

 the edges at the top ; and a rent would seem a more appro- 

 priate term than a valley*. Above the falls, therefore, that 

 is, between them and Lake Erie, there is literally no valley at 

 all, as the river flows with a gentle current, and almost flush, 

 as seamen call it, or level with its banks; while below the ca- 

 taract, the bed of the river lies so deep in the earth, that a 

 stranger unprepared from these peculiarities, is not aware 

 of there being any break in the ground at all, till he comes 

 within a few yards of the very edge of the precipice." 



Such is the clear and concise statement of Captain Hall ; 

 but it must be understood that this deep and precipitous 

 trough does not extend much further than Queenston Ferry, 

 7 miles below the fall, and where the current flows at the rate 

 of about 3 miles an hour. The sides, during the whole of 

 this descending course, become gradually lower, until at 

 length the river and its banks, on approaching Lake Ontario, 

 reassume the same level and peaceful character which had 

 been remarked for nearly 18 miles below Lake Erie, until 

 disturbed by the rapids above the fall. 



It is clear, therefore, that the waters of the whole of the 

 upper lakes, in seeking their level in the ocean, have to de- 

 scend from the higher to the lower plain ; and as this descent 

 does not take place by a wide valley, such as forms the usual 

 channel for most other rivers, it is equally obvious that a 

 period once existed, when these waters first began to overflow, 

 and when they must have made their way over the upper sur- 

 face of the country in the form of a great rapid, (see the dotted 

 line from B to D of the section,) and that the violence of this 

 superficial action on secondary strata of a horizontal form, 

 has gradually occasioned a cataract, which would naturally 

 commence near the base, and which has in the course of 

 many ages gradually worked its position backwards, until we 

 now find it nearly at the greatest possible height which the 

 nature of the ground will admit of. If this point be admitted, 

 it is equally obvious that a continuance of the action must 

 occasion a continuance of the effect, and that a time must 

 consequently arrive when the whole barrier between the two 

 lakes will be intersected. This period is, of course, very re- 

 mote f; but it is not the less certain and unavoidable, if the 



* A trough would, perhaps, be a more suitable term than either, being 

 the result of continued action. A rent implies a sudden effect of some 

 violent convulsion, of which that entire district offers no one instance. 



t The distance being 21 miles from the present cataract to Lake Erie, 

 and the rate of action being about 4 feet per annum, the time necessary 

 for this great natural operation will be 27,/20 years. As the fall will, 



