NIAGARA. 177 



On Friday, November 1, 1872, just before reaching 

 the village of Niagara Falls, I caught, from the railway 

 train, my first glimpse of the smoke of the cataract. 

 Immediately after my arrival I went with a friend to 

 the northern end of the American Fall. It may be 

 that my mood at the time toned down the impression 

 produced by the first aspect of this grand cascade ; but 

 I felt nothing like disappointment, knowing, from old 

 experience, that time and close acquaintanceship, the 

 gradual interweaving of mind and nature, must power- 

 fully influence my final estimate of the scene. After 

 dinner we crossed to Groat Island, and, turning to the 

 right, reached the southern end of the American Fall. 

 The river is here studded with small islands. Crossing 

 a wooden bridge to Luna Island, and clasping a tree 

 which grows near its edge, I looked long at the cataract, 

 which here shoots down the precipice like an avalanche 

 of foam. It grew in power and beauty. The channel 

 spanned by the wooden bridge was deep, and the river 

 there doubled over the edge of the precipice, like the 

 swell of a muscle, unbroken. The ledge here over- 

 hangs, the water being poured out far beyond the base 

 of the precipice. A space, called the Cave of the 

 Winds, is thus enclosed between the wall of rock and 

 the falling water. 



Goat Island ends in a sheer dry precipice, which 

 connects the American and Horseshoe Falls. Midway 

 between both is a wooden hut, the residence of the guide 

 to the Cave of the Winds, and from the hut a winding 

 staircase, called Biddle's Stair, descends to the base of 

 the precipice. On the evening of my arrival I went 

 down this stair, and wandered along the bottom of the 

 cliff. One well-known factor in the formation and 

 retreat of the cataract was immediately observed. A 

 thick layer of limestone formed the upper portion of 



