92 FALLS OF NIAGARA. 



Niagara to deliver an introductory letter, when I was so much 

 gratified with a sight of the rapids, that my friends accompa 

 nied me next night at the same hour. No person who has 

 not seen the rapids can form a just estimate of the quantity 

 and force of water descending the cataract. When standing 

 at the verge of the river, a hundred yards below the grist 

 mills, and looking up the stream, the most obtuse feelings 

 cannot fail of being touched with the spectacle. Such is the 

 breadth and descent of the river, that the water forms the 

 visible horizon ; and the mighty stream, in waving folds, seems 

 issuing from the firmament. The sun had sunk to rest ; the 

 evening was soothingly still ; the thin clouds of vapour rising 

 from the falls curled gracefully over Goat island, and were 

 lost in the distance. The agitated rapids formed a contrast 

 with the serene sky emblematical of troubled earth and calm 

 heaven. 



Conscious of my inability to do justice, in the way of de 

 scription, to the Falls of Niagara, when so many higher-gifted 

 individuals have failed in the attempt, the works of travellers 

 must be consulted by those interested in the matter. They 

 will find descriptions, like the actual falls, abounding in so 

 many beauties, that readers, like visitors, may select what is 

 suited to their taste. Visitors, however, ought to perambu 

 late the banks of the river and islands in the neighbourhood 

 of the falls, and begin with the American or Canada side, 

 according to their temperament. As few seem capable of 

 appreciating the magnificence of the sight at first, it will 

 generally be found the best policy to begin with the American 

 side, which affords opportunity of seeing both falls ; while the 

 Horse-shoe and rapids from the Canadian side, the sublimest 

 objects of the scene, are reserved for the last. 



Two rival companies have commenced building villas on 

 the Canada side of the Niagara, and in all probability will 

 lead to the embellishment and improvement of the banks in 

 the vicinity of the falls. The period has not yet, however, 

 arrived for the population resorting to villas in Canada for a 

 few months in summer ; and city building at the falls seems 

 as visionary an undertaking as could at present be entered 

 into. 



