200 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



sliining above the smoke of spray appeared lifted to an 

 extraordinary elevation. Had Hennepin and La Hontan 

 seen tlie fall from this position, their estimates of the 

 height would have been perfectly excusable. 



From a point a little way below the American Fall, a 

 ferry crosses the river, in summer, to the Canadian side. 

 Below the ferry is a suspension bridge for carriages and 

 foot-passengers, and a mile or two lower down is the rail- 

 way suspension bridge. Between ferry and bridge the 

 river Niagara flows unruffled; but at the suspension 

 bridge the bed steepens and the river quickens its mo- 

 tion. Lower down the gorge narrows, and the rapidity 

 and turbulence increase. At the place called the "Whirl- 

 pool Eapids," I estimated the width of the river at 300 

 feet, an estimate confirmed by the dwellers on the spot. 

 When it is remembered that the drainage of nearly half 

 a continent is compressed into this space, the impetuosity 

 of the river's rush may be imagined. Had it not been for 

 Mr. Bierstadt, the distinguished photographer of Niagara, 

 I should have quitted the place without seeing these rap- 

 ids; for this, and for his agreeable company to the spot, 

 I have to thank him. From the edge of the clrff above 

 the rapids we descended — a little, I confess, to a climber's 

 disgust — in an "elevator," because the effects are best seen 

 from the water level. 



Two kinds of motion are here obviously active, a mo- 

 tion of translation and a motion of undulation — the race 

 of the river through its gorge, and the great waves gen- 

 erated by its collision with, and rebound from, the obsta- 

 cles in its way. In the middle of the river the rush and 

 tossing are most violent; at all events, the impetuous force 



