FISH KILLED BY THE FALLS. 401 



Adieu, then, to the English or Canadian side of the 

 Falls ! With difficulty I tore myself away, and, walking 

 back, I bade my carriage follow till I came to a road 

 in the side of a hill leading down to a ferry below the 

 Falls, where the expanding cliffs afford more room to the 

 rushing tide, and it is possible to row a boat across from shore 

 to shore. Telling my driver to wait, I had some inclination 

 to climb down the cliff the shortest way to the water, and 

 for that purpose, my coachman staring at me in astonish 

 ment, I clambered over the bank that protected the road ; but, 

 observing that the face of the descent was very loose, and 

 that I could not be in command of my legs, I clambered 

 back again and went down the legitimate way. At the 

 margin of the water I found a small ferry-house and the 

 ferryman, with whom I entered into conversation, and 

 the first question I asked was, " Why did so many sea 

 gulls of the common sort keep perpetually hovering on 

 the edge of the fall of the waters below the cascade ?" 

 " Do n't know, sir," was the intelligent reply; " they 

 always do from the fall of the year till towards the 

 spring." " Humph ! " I said to myself, " but I guess why. 

 Do you ever find any large fish killed by the Falls, and 

 washed up here to your own door by this strong eddy ? " 

 " Oh, yes, sir," he rejoined, " it is quite worth my while, 

 as well as that of others, to examine the shores and eddies 

 hereabouts every morning, for we often pick up large 

 fish and all sorts of wild fowl, and tame geese and ducks 

 that have been killed in coming over." " What sort of 

 wild fowl?" I asked, thinking it strange if wings could 

 not save from this destruction. " Oh, many sorts, sir, 

 wild duck, divers, and others ; there were eleven tame 

 geese from the farms above killed in one night, and once 



26 



