198 Miscellanies. ‘ee 
which in certain respects must differ from the reality, and may therefore 
lead him to imagine the latter has fallen short of his previous conceptions. 
Thus I had imagined that the fury of the waters after they had been 
launched over the cataract would have been more terrific, and was sur- 
prised at seeing the ease with which an insignificant ferry-boat crossed 
the stream within a very short distance below. The noise produced by 
the waterfall itself, I had also conceived would have been more stunning; 
and it was with a feeling nearly allied to what one might entertain at heat- 
ing a person of solid weight and character, talked down by a noisy upstart 
of yesterday, that I found the roar of this stupendous natural phenomenon 
overpowered by the hissing of a locomotive which was letting off its steam 
at the railroad station adjoining. 
“The presence of these evidences of human ingenuity was in other 
respects also very unpropitious to the feelings which the scene itself was 
calculated to inspire ; and though no enemy to railroads or manufactories 
in their proper place, I could have wished all vestiges, both of the one and 
of the other, banished from a spot where nature ought to be allowed to 
reign undisturbed and alone. 
“ But after a time, these first preposséssions wore away, and I then be- 
gan to feel more impressed with the solemnity of the sound which the cat- 
aract produces in its descent, than I had expected to have been, by the 
deafening tumult of waters for which my imagination had prepared me. 
“In surveying it too under various aspects and at different distances, I 
found new sources of admiration and astonishment continually presenting 
themselves, of which I had previously no conception ; nor did the interest 
of the scene appear to flag, when I turned to contemplate the phenom 
ena presented in the course of the river both above and below, which 
may be regarded, either as concomitants, or as consequences of the cata- 
ract itself.” ¥ 
This is followed by a graphic account of the various features exhibited 
by the majestic waterfall at the different points from which it may 
observed, as also of the scenery connected with it. ; 
_  Inrelation to the sandstone of the Connecticut river, Dr. Daubeny ™ 
giving Prof. Hitchcock’s opinion, that it is equivalent to the new red sand- 
stone of England, merely remarks, that if this be true, it is singular that 
no salt is found within it, this being its most appropriate position. He 
visited one of the localities of bird tracks, and compared the specimens OP 
the surface of the rocks with those in the cabinet of Prof. Hitchcock, and 
fully satisfied himself that they could have been produced only by “ birds 
of various sizes treading upon soft and plastic material.” 
An account is given of the coal fields and brine springs of the United 
P States, as also of the thermal waters; the last being treated quite at 
=. 
