140 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



certainly hold yon." Remarking that he might count on 

 this, I waded in, and stretched the staff to rny companion. 

 It was firmly grasped by both of us. Thus helped, though 

 its onset was strong, I moved safely across the torrent. 

 All danger ended here. We afterward roamed sociably 

 among the torrents and boulders below the Cave of the 

 Winds. The rocks were covered with organic slime, which 

 could not have been walked over with bare feet, but the 

 felt shoes effectually prevented slipping. We reached the 

 cave and entered it, first by a wooden way carried over the 

 boulders, and then along a narrow ledge, to the point eaten 

 deepest into the shale. When the wind is from the south, 

 the falling water, I am told, can be seen tranquilly from 

 this spot; but when we were there, a blinding hurricane 

 of spray was whirled against us. On the evening of the 

 same day, I went behind the water on the Canada side, 

 which, after the experiences of the morning, struck me as 

 an imposture. 



Still even this latter is exciting to some nerves. Its 

 effect upon himself is thus vividly described by Mr. 

 Bakewell, Jr.: "On turning a sharp angle of the rock, 

 a sudden gust of wind met us, coming from the hollow be- 

 tween the fall and the rock, which drove the spray directly 

 in our faces, with such force that in an instant we were 

 wet through. When in the midst of this shower-bath the 

 shock took away my breath: I turned back and scrambled 

 over the loose stones to escape the conflict. The guide 

 soon followed, and told me that I had passed the worst 

 part. With that assurance I made a second attempt; but 

 so wild and disordered was my imagination that when I 

 had reached halfway I could bear it no longer."* 



To complete my knowledge I desired to see the fall from 

 the river below it, and long negotiations were necessary to 

 secure the means of doing so. The only boat fit for the 

 undertaking had been laid up for the winter; but this 

 difficulty, through the kind intervention of Mr. Townsend, 

 was overcome. The main one was to secure oarsmen 

 sufficiently strong and skillful to urge the boat where I 

 wished it to be taken. The son of the owner of the boat, 

 a finely built young fellow, but only twenty, and therefore 

 not sufficiently hardened, was willing to go; and up the 



* "Mag. of Nat. Hist.," 1830, pp. 121, 122. 



