NIAGARA. 135 



At the southern extremity of the Horseshoe is a promon- 

 tory, formed by the doubling buck of the gorge excavated 

 by the cataract, and into which it plunges. On the prom- 

 ontory stands a stone building, called the Terrapin 

 Tower, the door of which had been nailed up because of 

 the decay of the staircase within it. Through the kindness 

 of Mr. Townsend, the superintendent of Goat Island, the 

 door was opened for me. From this tower,at all hours of the 

 day, and at some hours of the night, I watched and listened 

 to the Horseshoe Fall. The river here is evidently much 

 deeper than the American branch; and instead of bursting 

 into foam where it quits the ledge, it bends solidly over, 

 and falls in a continuous layer of the most vivid green. 

 The tint is not uniform; long stripes of deeper hue alter- 

 nating with bands of brighter color. Close to the ledge 

 over which the water rolls, foam is generated, the light 

 falling upon which, and flashing back from it, is sifted 

 in its passage to and fro, and changed from white to emer- 

 ald-green. Heaps of superficial foam are also formed at 

 intervals along the ledge, and are immediately drawn into 

 long white striae.* Lower down, the surface, shaken by 

 the reaction from below, incessantly rustles into whiteness. 

 The descent finally resolves itself into a rhythm, the water 

 reaching the bottom of the fall in periodic gushes. Nor is 

 the spray uniformly diffused through the air, but is 

 wafted through it in successive veils of gauze-like texture. 

 From all this it is evident that beauty is not absent from 

 the Horseshoe Fall, but majesty is its chief attribute. The 

 plunge of the water is not wild, but deliberate, vast and 

 fascinating. From the Terrapin Tower, the adjacent arm 

 of the Horseshoe is seen projected against the opposite one, 

 midway down; to the imagination, therefore, is left the 

 picturing of the gulf into which the cataract plunges. 



The delight which natural scenery produces in some 

 minds is difficult to explain, and the conduct which it 

 prompts can hardly be fairly criticised by those who have 

 never experienced it. It seems to me a deduction from the 

 completeness of the celebrated Thomas Young, that he 

 was unable to appreciate natural scenery. " He had 



*Tke direction of the wind with reference to the course of a ship 

 may be inferred with accuracy from the foam-streaks oil the surface 

 of the sea. 



