120 The Falls of Niagara, 
Goats’ [sland (e), which divides the American and Canada 
Falls, presents a bare face of perpendicular rock (4), which 
extends about 500 yards north and south. The American 
Falls are about 200 yards in width, and 164 feet in height. 
At a short distance from the Table Rock, a wooden 
spiral staircase is erected, of which the top is represented at /- 
The staircase we descended, and approached as near as we 
could to the bottom of the Fall, without getting wet through. 
The noise here was sublime, but not so loud as I had ex- 
pected. Owing to the rising spray, only a part of the cataract 
was visible: huge fragments of rocks, which had been torn 
asunder from their native bed by the torrent, lay as * monu- 
ments to record the mischief it has done,’ and ‘formed, with 
the overhanging precipice, a bold and savage foreground to 
chaos beyond. 
As my companion was returning to Buffalo for New York 
that afternoon, we hastened back to the hotel (called the Pa- 
vilion), which is a spacious building of wood, situated on a 
rising ground very near to the Falls: it is kept by Mr. For- 
syth, “His son has another hotel not far off. 
In consequence of the coldness of the season, there were 
very few visitors; about twenty sat down to dinner. Mr. For- 
syth, the landlord, was at the head of the table, and related 
the wonders of the place. He had lived there forty years, and 
was the first settler in that part of the country, during which 
time, he informed us, that the Falls had receded from 40 to 
50 yards. Not many months ago, an immense portion of rock 
fell down, which caused a considerable change in the appear- 
ance of the Falls, and gave quite a new and “béautiful feature 
to the scene. On the falling in of this rock, the water imme- 
diately above met with an obstr uction, and, instead of shoot- 
ing over in a curved line, from the top to the bottom, appears 
to boil out in globes, enlarging as they descend, and may be 
compared to a sudden burst of steam, perfectly white, which 
contrasts finely with the transparent, delicate, green colouring 
of the body of water that rushes by its side. The torrent, 
seen en profile, as it rushes over the precipice, is here esti- 
mated to be about 12 or 15 feet thick. I make use of this term, 
to distinguish it from breadth and depth. It dees not preserve 
the same thickness in every part, but varies considerably in 
this respect. “Lhe only perceptible variation observed during 
the year, in the quantity of water which flows down the Falls, 
is when a strong south-west wind sweeps over the wide ex- 
panse of Lake Erie, driving its waters into the mouth of the 
river. 
It was my intention to have taken a series of views, anti- 
