*,4 THE FALLS OF NIAGARA. 



congregated round its verge, the smooth and solemn movement with 

 which it rolls its massive volume over the rock, the liquid emerald of its 

 long unbroken waters, the fantastic wreaths which spring to meet it, and 

 then the shadowy mist that veils the horrors of its crash below, constitute 

 a scene almost too enormous in its features for man to look upon; 

 'Angels might tremble as they gaze,' and I should deem the nerves 

 obtuse, rather than strong, which did not quail at the first sight of this 

 stupendous cataract." 



Near Goat Island the river is 200 feet deep, and has at all points a 

 fine view of the rapids of the American cataracts; it is a vast sheet, 

 and has all the sublimity that height, and width, and uproar can give, 

 but it has none of the magic of its rival about it. The furious velocity 

 with which they rush onward to the abyss is terrific, and the throwing 

 over a bridge was a work of noble daring. It has been attempted to 

 establish, with some degree of accuracy, the precise distance to which the 

 rumbling sound of the falls could be heard in a calm and still summer 

 night ; and one, who resided several years near the spot, asserts that 

 eighteen or twenty miles is the extreme distance. After the American 

 war three of our large ships, stationed on Lake Erie, were declared unfit 

 for service and condemned. Permission was obtained to send them over 

 the falls: the first was torn to shivers by the rapids, and went over in 

 fragments; the second filled with water before she reached the falls, but the 

 third, which was in better condition, took the leap gallantly, and retained 

 her form till she was hid in the cloud of mist below. A reward of ten 

 dollars was offered for the largest fragment of wood, which should be 

 found from either wreck, five for the second, and so on. One morsel 

 only was seen, and that, only about a foot long, was mashed as by a vice, 

 and its edges notched like the teeth of a saw ! 



In 1827 a few individuals purchased a large schooner of 140 tons burden. 

 This vessel was towed down the river, to within half a mile of the 

 " rapids," when it was cut adrift and left to its fate. The rapids are 

 caused by numerous ledges of rock from two to four feet high, extending 

 wholly across the river, over which the water successively pitches, for 

 about the distance of a mile immediately above the main cataract. The 

 vessel got safely over the first ledge, but upon pitching over the second 

 her masts went by the board, she sprang a leak and filled with water, but 

 contrived, nevertheless, to float, though she changed her position to stern 

 foremost, in which manner she took her last plunge over the main fall, 

 her bowsprit being the last part that was visible of her : she, of course, 

 never rose more, but numerous fragments of her timbers and planking 



