WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 291 



they cannot, they must not fall ; their vernal bloom, tlieir 

 summer richness and autumnal tints, please and refresh 

 the eye of man ; and even when the days of joy and 

 warmth are fled, the wintry blast soothes the listening ear 

 with a sublime and pleasing melancholy as it howls through 

 their naked branches. 



" Around me trees unnumber'd rise, 

 Beautiful in various dyes ; 

 The gloomy pine, the poplar blue, 

 The yellow beech, the sable yew ; 

 The slender fir, that taper grows, 

 The sturdy oak, with broad-spread boughs." 



A few miles before you reach Buffalo, the road is low 

 aaid bad, and in stepping out of the stage I sprained my 

 foot very severely ; it swelled to a great size, and caused 

 me many a day of pain and mortification, as will be seen 

 in the sequel. 



Buffalo looks down on Lake Erie, and possesses a fine 

 and commodious inn. At a little distance is the Black 

 Eock, and there you pass over to the Canada side. A 

 stage is in waiting to convey you some sixteen or twenty 

 miles down to the falls. Long before you reach the spot 

 you hear the mighty roar of waters, and see the spray of 

 the far-famed falls of Niagara, rising up like a column to 

 the heavens, and mingling with the passing clouds. 



At this stupendous cascade of nature, the waters of the 

 lake fall one hundred and seventy-six feet perpendicular. 

 It has been calculated, I forget by whom, that the quantity 

 of water discharged down this mighty fall, is six hundred 

 and seventy thousand two hundred and fifty-five tons per 

 minute. There are two large inns on the Canada side ; 

 but, after you have satisfied your curiosity in viewing the 

 falls, and in seeing the rainbow in the foam far below 

 where you are standing, do not, I pray you, tarry long at 



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