NIAGARA. 



river, it was stated, there lived another man who could do 

 anything with the boat which strength and daring could 

 accomplish. He came. His figure and expression of face 

 certainly indicated extraordinary firmness and power. On 

 Tuesday, November 5th, we started, each of us being clad 

 in oilcloth. The elder oarsman at once assumed a tone of 

 authority over his companion, and struck immediately in 

 amid the breakers below the American Fall. He hugged 

 the cross freshets instead of striking out into the smoother 

 water. I asked him why he did so, and he replied that 

 they were directed outward, not downward. The struggle, 

 however, to prevent the bow of the boat from being turned 

 by them, was often very severe. 



The spray was in general blinding, but at times it dis- 

 appeared and yielded noble views of the fall. The edge of 

 the cataract is crimped by indentations which exalt its 

 beauty. Here and there, a little below the highest ledge, 

 a secondary one juts out; the water strikes it and bursts 

 from it in huge protuberant masses of foam and spray. 

 We passed Goat Island, came to the Horseshoe, and worked 

 for a time along its base, the boulders over which Conroy 

 and myself had scrambled a few days previously lying be- 

 tween us and the cataract. A rock was before us, concealed 

 and revealed at intervals, as the waves passed over it. Our 

 leader tried to get above this rock, first on the outside of 

 it. The water, however, was here in violent motion. The 

 men struggled fiercely, the older one ringing out an inces- 

 sant peal of command and exhortation to the younger. As 

 we were just clearing the rock, the bow came obliquely to 

 the surge; the boat was turned suddenly round and shot 

 with astonishing rapidity down the river. The men re- 

 turned to the charge, now trying to get up between the 

 half-concealed rock and the boulders to the left. But the 

 torrent set in strongly through this channel. The tugging 

 was quick and violent, but we made little way. At length, 

 seizing a rope, the principal oarsman made a desperate 

 attempt to get upon one of the boulders, hoping to be able 

 to drag the boat through the channel; but it bumped so 

 violently against the rock, that the man flung himself back 

 and relinquished the attempt. 



We returned along the base of the American Fall, run- 

 ning in and out among the currents which rushed from it 

 laterally into the river. Seen from below the American 



