Niagara. 69 



the dark abyss. The earth trembles, the spray arises 

 up to the heavens, forms itself into clouds, and 

 passes away. 



I was led clean under the falls, (the fellow told 

 me as far as man could go), the rushing wind and 

 spray, were awful, and it was dark as midnight. I 

 came away under the impression, that among the 

 wonders of this world, are the falls of Niagara. We 

 passed across Lake Ontario in a sluggish steamboat. 

 The lake was dull. Its shores are yet covered with 

 trees the axe of the settler is not heard. One long 

 line of dull shore presents itself for hundreds of 

 miles, and we were glad to enter the charming St. 

 Lawrence, with her thousand islands. 



In the meantime, botany had been my amusement 

 all through the country. I pulled up every plant in 

 Canada that I could lay my hands on, and Miss Martin 

 preserved the specimens. I found, to my surprise, the 

 Lobelia Cardinalis growing as far as the 46th degree 

 of latitude. The white cedar, which was new to me, 

 is about the most splendid tree I have ever seen. 

 We passed through groves of them for miles. The 

 maple and beech, are still the pride of the western 

 forests ; and the elms are the largest and finest I 

 have ever seen. The sweetbriar is here indige- 

 nous the whole air in the morning is rendered 

 fragrant by it. The wild rose blooms everywhere 

 beneath your feet, and the gooseberries hang in 

 clusters on the sides of every hill and ditch. In 

 Montreal, we had them three inches in circumfer- 

 ence. 



We pursued our way down the St. Lawrence, 

 and arriving at the rapids, we all took a boat about 

 fifteen in number. We went merrily down the 

 rapids, at one place, nine miles in twenty minutes 

 all was life and glee. The Canadians, a light- 

 hearted race, sang, and laughed and jumped. Miss 



