NIAGARA FALLS. 199 



This sanguinary name is derived from this cir- 

 cumstance : After the capture of Niagara by Sir 

 William Johnson, in the war of 1756, commonly 

 called the French war, an escort of thirty English 

 with waggons, were driven down this precipice 

 by an ambuscade of French and Indians, and all 

 killed, except one who broke through the enemy, 

 and another who was caught by a tree on his de- 

 scent, and although miserably wounded, was 

 living a few years ago to narrate the melancholy 

 event. 



Two miles from this place, is the whirlpool of 

 the Niagara, which exhibits the power of water in 

 the most astonishing manner. When the largest 

 trees of the forest are involved in the vortex of 

 this- fresh water Maelstrom, such is the fury of its 

 vertiginous motion, that they are whirled round 

 with inconceivable velocity, and after being pre- 

 cipitated into the great abyss of water, and lost to 

 the eye for a considerable time, they are either 

 ejected in fragments from their prison, or entirely 

 demolished. 



The celebrated cataract of Niagara has been 

 delineated by so many travellers who have visited 

 it from La Houtan, Hennepin, and Charlevoix, 

 down to Weld, Volney, and Schultz, that I shall 

 riot attempt to add to the number by a formal de- 

 scription. It lias been the subject of painting, as 



