42 NAERATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



Falls, and some other places of historical interest in the neighbor- 

 hood. This object I executed immediately, taking a horse and 

 buggy, and keeping down the American shore. The distance is 

 twenty-two miles, in which the Tonewanda Eiver is crossed by a 

 bridge. The day was clear and warm, with a light breeze blow- 

 ing down the river. I stopped several times to listen for the 

 sound of the Falls, but at the distance of fifteen, ten, eight, and 

 even five miles, could not distinguish any; the course of the 

 wind being, indeed, adverse to the transmission of sound, in that 

 direction, until reaching Avithin some two or three miles. There 

 is nothing in the character of the country, in the approach from 

 Buffalo, to apprise the visitor of the difference in its level and 

 geological stratification, and thus prepare the mind to expect a 

 cataract. It is different, I afterwards learned, in the approach 

 from Lewiston, in which quite a mountain must first be ascended, 

 when views are often had of the most striking parts of the gulf, 

 which has been excavated by the passage of the Niagara Eiver. 

 It was not easy for me to erect standards of comparison for the 

 eye to estimate heights. The ear is at first stunned by the inces- 

 sant roar, and the eye bewildered by the general view. I spent 

 two days at the place, and thus became familiarized with indi- 

 vidual traits of the landscape. I found the abyss at the foot of 

 the Falls to be the best spot for accomplishing that object. By far 

 the greatest disproportion in the Falls exists between the height 

 and great width of the falling sheet. The water is most thick and 

 massy at the Horseshoe Fall, which gives one the most striking 

 and vivid idea of creative power. In fitting positions in the gulf, 

 with good incidences of light, the Falls look like a mighty torrent 

 ]30uring down from the clouds. At the time of my visit, the 

 wind drove immense fields of ice out of Lake Erie, with floating 

 trees and other drift-wood, but I never saw any vestiges of these 

 below the Falls, In front of the column of water falling on the 

 American side, there stood an enormous pyramid of snow, or 

 congealed spray. 



What has been said by Goldsmith, and repeated by others, 

 respecting the destructive influence of the Rapids above to ducks 

 and water-fowl is imaginary — at least, as to the American sheet. 

 So far from it, I saw the wild ducks swim down the Rapid, as if 

 in pursuit of some article of food, and then rise and fly out at the 



