76 AMBUSCADE OF THE DEVIL'S HOLE. [1763, Sept. 



lime features have gained for it a world-wide renown. 

 The River Niagara, a short distance below the cat- 

 aract, assumes an aspect scarcely less remarkable 

 than that stupendous scene itself. Its channel is 

 formed by a vast ravine, whose sides, now bare and 

 weather-stained, now shaggy with forest-trees, rise 

 in cliffs of appalling height and steepness. Along 

 this chasm pour all the waters of the lakes, heaving 

 their furious surges with the power of an ocean 

 and thje rage of a mountain torrent. About three 

 miles below the cataract, the precipices which 

 form the eastern wall of the!* ravine are broken 

 by an abyss of awful depth and blackness, bearing 

 at the present day the name of the Devil's Hole. 

 In its shallowest part, the precipice sinks sheer 

 down to the depth of eighty feet, where it meets a 

 chaotic mass of rocks, descending with an abrupt 

 declivity to unseen depths below. Within the cold 

 and damp recesses of the gulf, a host of forest- 

 trees have rooted themselves ; and, standing on the 

 perilous brink, one may look down upon the min- 

 gled foliage of ash, poplar, and maple, while, above 

 them all, the spruce and fir shoot their sharp and 

 rigid spires upward into sunlight. The roar of the 

 convulsed river swells heavily on the ear ; and, far 

 below, its headlong waters, careering in foam, may 

 be discerned through the openings of the matted 

 foliage. 



On the thirteenth of September, a numerous 

 train of wagons and pack-horses proceeded from 

 the lower landing to Fort Schlosser ; and on the fol- 

 lowing morning set out on their return, guarded by 



