It has been well asked by one, who has a very lively sense of the 

 beautiful in nature and art, " Where is the artist who could ever paint a 

 cataract ? " 



The glassy surface of falling water, ere it breaks o'er the abyss in 

 snowy flakes; the glancing rays of the sun upon the overhanging trees; 

 the rocks, the slight fringe of spray around them, may be represented ; 

 nay even, the thick smoke, that hangs over the cascades, as they fall 

 into the ravines below, like incense, hovering, as it were, with deferential 

 awe, over some altar of Nature, before it ascends to the throne of The 

 Highest ! 



But where is the motion ? Where are the white and frothing waters 

 that, like wild horses, affrighted and snorting, and at full speed, dash 

 along the sides of the sloping meadows ; or, leaping from declivity to 

 declivity, precipice to precipice, then fall with deep, sonorous, and splash- 

 ing murmurs from the black and shining rocks? 



Where is the rush of the current, after the waters meet and commin- 

 gle in the depths below ? Where the busy and tumultuous life, the ever 

 changing glistening, the 



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 of the quick waves ? 



This has never yet been done. 



We cannot catch a wave, nor Daguerreotype its grace and rocket-like 

 velocity. To do this perfectly is beyond the power of man. So, like- 

 wise, they who essay to convey, by description, the various features : 

 the scenes, and moments of eager and tumultuous joy ; the moving fig- 

 ures ; the phantasmagoria of life, such as are continually presented and 

 occurring on a Race Ground, will, also, fail in conveying aught but a 

 cold, inanimate picture to the mind of the reader ! It is a subject that 

 cannot well be pictured by words — though many attempt it, none can 

 throw in, truthfully, all its shifting shapes and hues, for they are as va- 

 ried and dazzling as are the changes in a kaleidoscope. 



A Race Course is, in many particulars, much the same same sort of 

 thing all over the world — the same striking features present themselves — 

 a long line of vehicles of all sorts and conditions, 



" Buggy, gig or dog-cart, curricle or tandem," 



