HARDWOOD RECORD 



A3 



an order to Monsr. Jonqueire, who had lived ten years by the carry- 

 ing place, and knew everything worth notice of the fall, better than 

 any other person, to go with me and show and tell me everything 

 he knew. 



A little before we came to the carrying place the water of Niagara 

 river grew so rapid that four men in a light birch canoe had much 

 diflSculty to get up thither. Canoes can go half a league above the 

 beginning of the carrying place, though they must work against 

 water extremely rapid; but higher up it is quite impassable, the 

 whole course of the water for two leagues and a half up to the 

 great faU being a series of smaller falls, one under another, in 

 which the greatest canoe or batteaux would in a moment be turned 

 upside down. We went ashore, therefore, and walked over the carry- 

 ing place, having, beside the high and steep side of the river, two 

 great hills to ascend, one above another. 

 Oldtime Portage 



Here on the carrying place I saw about 200 Indians, most of them 

 belonging to the Six Nations, busy in carrying packs of furs, chiefly 

 of deer and bear, over the carrying place. You would be surprised 

 to see what abundance of these things are brought every day over 

 this place. An Indian gets twenty pence for each pack he carries 

 over, the distance being three leagues. 



Half an hour past ten in the morning we came to the great falls. 

 The river runs here from S. S. E. to N. N. W., and the rocks of the 

 great fall cross it, not in a right line, but forming almost the figure 

 of a semicircle or horseshoe. Above the fall in the middle of the 

 river is an island lying also 8. S. E. and N. N. W., or parallel with 

 the sides of the river. Its length being about seven or eight French 

 arpents [arpent=180 feet]. The lower end of this island is just 

 at the perpendicular edge of the fall. On both sides of this island 

 runs all the water that comes from the lakes of Canada, viz.: Lako 

 Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie, which you 

 know are rather small seas than lakes, and have, besides, many large 

 rivers that empty their water into them, of which the greatest part 

 comes down the Niagara fall. 



Before the water comes to this island, it runs but slowly compared 

 with its motion when it approaches the island, where it grows the 

 most rapid water in the world, running with a surprising swiftness 

 before it comes to the fall. It is quite white, and in many places 

 is thrown high up into the air. The greatest and strongest batteaux 

 would here in a moment be turned over and over. The water that 

 goes down on the west side of the island is more rapid, in greater 

 abundance, whiter, and seems almost to outdo an arrow in swiftness. 



When you are at the fall and look up the river, you may see that 

 the river above the fall is everywhere exceeding steep, almost as the 

 side of a hUl. When aU this water comes to the very fall, there it 

 throws itself down perpendicular. It is beyond all belief the surprise 

 vhen you see this. I cannot express with words how amazing it 

 is. You cannot see it without being quite terrified to behold so 

 vast a quantity of water falling heaillong from a surprising height. 



Questions Father Hennepin's Veracity 

 I doubt not you have a desire to learn the exact height of this 

 great fall. Father Hennepin supposes it to be 600 feet perpendicular, 

 but he has gained little credit in Canada. The name of honor they 

 give him there is uii grand meiiteur [the great Uar]. He writes of 

 what he saw in places where he never was. It is true he saw this 

 fall, but as it is the way of some travelers to magnify everything, 

 so he has done with regard to the fall of Niagara. This humor of 

 travelers has occasioned me some disappointment in my travels, 

 having seldom been so happy as to find the wonderful things that 

 had been related by others. For my part, who am not fond of the 

 marvelous, I like to see things just as they are, and so to relate them. 

 Since Father Hennepin 's time this fall, by all accounts that have 

 been given of it, has grown less and less, and those who have meas- 

 ured it with mathematical instruments find the perpendicular fall 

 of water to be exactly 137 feet. Monsr. Morandrier, the king's 

 engineer in Canada, assured me, and gave it also under his hand, 

 that 137 feet was precisely the height of it; and all the French 

 gentlemen who were present with me at the fall did agree with him 



without the least contradiction. It is true, those who have tried to 

 measure it with a line find it sometimes 140, sometimes 150, and some- 

 times more, but the reason is it cannot that way be measured with 

 any certainty, the water carrying away the line. [The height is now 

 known to be 162 feet.] 



When the water is come down to the bottom of the rock of the fall, 

 it jumps back to a veiy great height in air. In other places it is white 

 as milk or snow, and all in motion like a boiling caldron. 

 EoAE OP THE Falls 



You may remember to what a great distance Hennepin says the 

 noise of this faU may be heard. All the gentlemen who were vrith 

 me agreed that the farthest one can hear it is fifteen leagues, and 

 that very seldom. When the air is quite clear you can hear it to 

 Niagara fort, but seldom at other times, because when the wind 

 blows, the waves of Lake Ontario make too much noise there against 

 the shore. They informed me that when they hear at the fort the 

 noise of the fall louder than ordinary, they are sure a northeast 

 wind will follow, which never faUs. This seems wonderful, as the fall 

 is southwest from the fort, and one would imagine it to be rather 

 a sign of a contrary wind. Sometimes it is said the falls make a 

 much greater noise than at other times, and this is looked upon 

 as a certain mark of approaching bad weather or rain. The Indians 

 here hold it always for a sure sign. When I was there it didn't 

 make an extraordinary great noise. Just by the fall we could easily 

 hear what each other said, without speaking much louder than com- 

 mon when conversing in other places. I don 't know how others have 

 found so great a noise here. Perhaps it was at certain times, as 

 above mentioned. 



Mists of Niagara 



From the place where the water falls, there rises abundance 

 of vapors, like the greatest and thickest smoke, sometimes more, 

 sometimes less. These vapors rise high in the air when it is cabn, 

 but are disperseil by the wind when it blows hard. If you go nigh 

 to the vapor or fog, or if the wind blows it on you, it is so penetrat- 

 ing that in a few minutes you will be as wet as if you had been 

 under water. 



I got two young Frenchmen to go down to bring me from the side 

 of the fall at the bottom some of each of the several kinds of herbs, 

 stones, and shells they should find there. They returned in a few 

 minutes and I really thought they had fallen into the water. 



When you are on the other, east, side of Lake Ontario, a great 

 many leagues from the fall, you may, every clear and calm morning, 

 see the vapors of the fall rising in the air. You would think all 

 the woods hereabouts were set on fire by the Indians, so great is the 

 apparent smoke. In the same manner you may see it on the west 

 side of Lake Erie, a great many leagues off. 



Destruction op Birds and Beasts 

 Several of the French gentlemen told me that when birds come 

 flying into this fog or smoke of the fall, they fall down and perish 

 in the water, either because their wings are become wet or the noise 

 of the fall astonishes them and they know not where to go in the 

 dark; but others were of the opinion that seldom or never any bird 

 perishes there in that manner; because they aU agreed, among the 

 abundance of birds found dead below the fall, there are no other 

 sorts than such as live and swim frequently in the water, as swans, 

 geese, ducks, water hens, teal, and the like. And very often great 

 flocks of them are seen going to destruction in this manner. They 

 swim in the river above the fall, and so are carried down lower 

 and lower by the water, and as water fowl usually take great delight 

 in being carried with the stream, so here they indulge themselves in 

 enjoying this pleasure so long, till the swiftness of the water becomes 

 so great that it is no longer possible for them to rise, but they are 

 driven down the precipice and perish. They are observed when they 

 draw nigh the fall to endeavor with all their might to take wing 

 and leave the water, but they cannot. 



In the months of September and October such abundant quantities 

 of dead water fowl are found every morning below the fall on the 

 shore that the garrison of the fort for a long time lives chiefly 

 upon them. Besides the fowl, they find also several sorts of dead 



