Niagara Falls. 181 



rock, which is only a limestone, and imagination is left to 

 conjecture the effect to be produced on the bed of Lake 

 Erie, should the course of time run long enough to admit of 

 the Falls receding to that point. The present rapids in the 

 St. Lawrence are thought by Sir Wm. Logan to be the 

 remains of cataracts long since worn away, and the formation 

 of their surrounding country furthers that idea. Queenston 

 demands a visit from the traveller both as being the scene 

 of the gallant defence made there by the British in 1812, 

 and for the view obtainable from this elevation. Here it was 

 that General Brock and his aid-de-camp, Lieut-Colonel 

 McDonnell, both fell mortally wounded, nth October, 18 12. 

 Brock was killed in the middle of the fight, while leading 

 on his men. His last words were, so history tells us : — 

 " Never mind the death of one man — I have not long to live." 

 A memorial pillar is erected, called Brock's Monument, — a 

 column 185 feet high, on the capital of which is a dome nine 

 feet high, reached by 250 spiral steps from the base inside. 

 Beneath, in massive stone sarcophagi, are deposited the 

 remains of both the heroes, who were interred first at Fort 

 George, but removed afterwards to the scene of their exploits 

 as a more fitting resting-place. History tells us that the 

 remains of the gallant commander were, during the funeral 

 service, honoured with a discharge of minute guns from the 

 American as well as the British batteries. On the summit 

 of the dome is a colossal statue of the General. This monu- 

 ment exceeds in height any other monumental column, 

 ancient or modern, with the exception of that on Fish Street 

 Hill, London, in commemoration of the great fire of 1666, 

 which, exceeds this one by 12 feet in height. The original 

 monument erected by the Provincial Government was 

 maliciously damaged in 1840 by a vagabond named Lett, 

 who had been compelled to fly to the United States for his 

 share in the rebellion of '37, and who thus sought to insult 

 the people of Canada by this atrocious deed. There is no 



