1;jS expedition to tiik 



ter during that day exceeded two hundred and seventy 

 feet. The splendid water falls which we observed we will 

 not attempt to describe. One of them, however, we cannot 

 pass over without particular mention, as it may probably rank 

 among the finest that are known ; from the Indians it has 

 received the beautiful appellation of Falls of Kikabikka, 

 and as no attempt has as yet been made to give it an Euro- 

 pean name, we hope that its original appellation will be re- 

 tained as that of Niagara has been. In the Chippewa lan- 

 guage Kakabikka signifies the " cleft rock." This fall 

 is remarkable on account of the volume of water which 

 it presents, the great height from which it falls, the 

 picturesque appearance of the rocks which surround it, 

 the wildness of the vegetation that accompanies it, and 

 finally, on account of the very great noise which it 

 produces, and which we believe to be far greater than 

 that of Niagara. It yields to the latter in one respect, 

 however, which is in point of breadth, but in this perhaps 

 it acquires an additional beauty ; for the immense breadth 

 of Niagara certainly takes away from the efiect which its 

 great height would otherwise produce ; while the falls of 

 Kakabikka, restricted by the rocks to a breadth of fifty 

 yards, present a height apparently more imposing. The 

 rock was measured by Lieutenants Scott and Denny, who 

 found the perpendicular pitch to be about one hundred and 

 thirty feet. The, edge of the rock is placed obliquely to 

 the bed of the river ; its surface is entirely covered, but is 

 probably rough, so that the water is broken before it leaves 

 the rock, and forms an uniformly white and nearly verti- 

 cal sheet of water descending into the abyss below, where 

 it meets with a rocky bed which pi'oduces a considerable 

 spray ; the stream continues foaming for a long distance. 

 The hand of art has as yet done nothing to modify the 



