DESECRATION OF NATURE. 393 



the banks and rocks were fringed with trees, while, on 

 the side on which I stood, bushes and fallen trees went 

 down to the water's edge, a few large trees still growing 

 on the cliffs at my side, on one of which I put my hand 

 to dispel any giddy sensation. "While thus I stood, a 

 roar, still at some distance, told me that I only saw the 

 path to the lion's den ; the lion had yet to be approached 

 and to be seen, to be thoroughly appreciated. While 

 looking thus upon the river, and at the attributes of its 

 beauty on either side, then on the American bounds 

 opposite, I had to lament the occasional erection of a 

 visible house, while close to me the trees which had 

 been so ornamental were ruthlessly cut down to afford 

 any fool who had built a cottage or villa a selfish peep at 

 the prospect which ought to be protected as the property 

 of the whole world. 



Having admired the majesty of nature, and abused 

 the acts of men, to my heart's content, I again advanced, 

 bidding my carriage to follow, for it seemed, under all 

 the interest I felt, an act of sacrilegious folly to rush 

 rudely on such a scene, and when I stopped again I 

 paused on the spot where Blondin, a Frenchman, 

 crossed above the raging river below the Falls on a rope. 

 The flyman having risked his life again by breaking 

 silence to tell me this for a moment, I wrenched my 

 mind from the face of nature to the acts of men, and 

 asked him if he was present when the rash act was done. 

 He said he was, and moreover he pointed to an opposite 

 rock whence, he said, another man named Shields 

 had arranged to dive for public amusement, but having 

 come one day to take an initiatory leap into the water 

 in the way of ascertaining how much he could do, he 

 leaped in, disappeared, and continued to dive for three 



