or THE FALLS or NIAGARA, &c. 23 
We, therefore, took the level fromthe water’s edge below, 
to the weight. By this method it appeared that the South- 
Weft fide was actually twenty feet lower than the North- 
Eaft one, the former being 143 feet, and the latter 163. 
It may, perhaps, be alledged that the ftretching of the 
cord muft occafion fome error. Suppofe it to have ftretch- 
ed fix inches, or even twice that length, the difference is 
very trifling; and although it might occafion the Falls to 
appear § or 10 inches lower than they actually were, yet 
it could not, inany manner, affe&t the comparative mea- 
furement of the two fides. The breadth of the cataract, in- 
cluding all the windings andal{fo the Ifland in the middle, 
is unqueltionably upwards of a mile: it may not appear 
to be fo much ; but it is well known that high banks al- 
ways feem to be much nearer each other than they actual- 
ly are. In the prefent cafe I have not formed my opinion 
from my eye alone, but chiefly from obfervations on the 
oppofite bank. The line which the Fall forms upon a 
horizontal plane has fome refemblance to a reaping/hook. 
I have never had fuficient leifure totake the level of the 
rapids immediately above the Falls; but lam much inclin- 
ed to think that they amount to about half the height 
of the Falls themfelves.—If the level of all the different 
currents, rapids and falls which are found between Lake- 
Superior and the mouth of the river St. Laurence could be 
afcertained, | apprehend that the furface of the water in 
the former would be found to be at leaft one thoufand feet 
higher than that of the latter. 
At the diftance of fix or feven miles below the Falls, 
the face of the country defcends by a very confiderable 
and fudden declivity—This ridge runs many miles and 
divides the high land in the vicinity of the Falls from 
the low land upon which the Fort of Niagara ftands. 
It is univerfally believed that the cataract was original- 
ly at this ridge, and that it has by degrees worn away ri 
broke 
