VOL. XXXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 575 



When I objected Hennepin's account of those falls to M. Borassaw, he 

 replied, that accordingly every body had depended on it as right, until the late 

 survey. On further discourse he acknowledged, that below the cataract, for a 

 great way, there were numbers of small ledges or stairs across the river, that 

 lowered it still more and more, till you come to a level; so that if all the de- 

 scents be put together, he does not know but the difference of the water above 

 the falls and the level below, may come up to father Hennepin ; but the strict 

 and proper cataract on a perpendicular is no more than 26 fathoms, or J 56 

 feet, which yet is a prodigious thing, and what the world I suppose cannot 

 parallel, considering the size of the river, being near a quarter of an English 

 mile broad, and very deep water. 



Several other things M. Borassaw set me right in, as to the falls of the Niagara. 

 Particularly it has been said, that the cataract makes such a prodigious noise, 

 that people cannot hear each other speak at some miles distance; whereas he 

 affirms, that you may converse together close by it. I have also heard it posi- 

 tively asserted, that the shoot of the river, when it comes to the precipice, was 

 with such force, that men and hojse might march under the body of the river 

 without being wet; this also he utterly denies, and says, the water falls in a 

 manner right down. 



What he observed further to me was, that the mist or shower which the falls 

 make, is so extraordinary, as to be seen at 5 leagues distance, and rises as high 

 as the common clouds. In this brume or cloud, when the sun shines, you 

 have always a glorious rainbow. That the river itself, which is there called the 

 river Niagara, is much narrower at the falls than either above or below; and 

 that from below there is no coming nearer the falls by water than about 6 

 English miles, the torrent is so rapid, and having such terrible whirlpools. 



He confirms Father Hennepin's and Mr. Kellug's account of the large trouts 

 of those lakes, and solemnly affirmed there was one taken lately, that weighed 

 86 lb. which I am the rather inclined to believe, on the general rule, that fish 

 are according to the waters. To confirm which, a very worthy minister 

 affirmed, that he saw a pike taken in Canada river, and carried on a pole be- 

 tween two men, that measured 5 feet 10 inches in length, and proportionably 

 thick. 



I myself saw a cataract, 3 leagues above Albany, in the province of New 

 York, on Schenectada river, called the Cohoes, which they count much of 

 there, and yet it is not above 40 or 50 feet perpendicular. From these falls 

 also there rises a misty cloud, which descends like small rain, which, when the 

 sun shines gives a handsome small rainbow, that moves as you move, according 

 to the angle of vision. The river at the Cohoes is 40 or 50 rods broad, but 



