Whirlpool and Rapids below the Falls of Niagara. 33 
practicable. On visiting the place last summer, it was not only 
very difficult but dangerous to descend, particularly so after rain. 
aving reached the base of the precipice and scrambled over 
rocks and through dense masses of roots, decayed branches and 
foliage of trees, for about the space of two hundred yards, the 
entanglement suddenly disappears, and a clear open space is left 
along the margin of the pool, on which it is a great pleasure to 
rest and admire the sublime scene. ‘The shore is uninterrupted 
for near two hundred yards; after which it is obstructed as be- 
fore, by huge fragments of rocks, &c. The foreground of the 
sketch, fig. 3, from A to B, represents this open space, which also 
indicates the extent of the base of the cliff of drift lying between 
the rocks F and G, in figs. 1 and 2. The cliff is less precipitous 
than the rocks which enclose it; its debris consists of sand with 
boulders of conglomerate or igneous rocks, and affords easy ac- 
cess to the water’s edge. 
At the northern extremity of the whirlpool, there is by far 
the most comprehensive view of the high perpendicular wall of 
rocks which encloses this deep, dark, circling pool. Here we are 
brought to the immediate confines of the whirling vortex. On 
its surface are seen the ruins of a forest, floating round, marking 
out to the eye the outline of that fatal circle. These yellow logs 
and trunks, grinding against each other, dip and rise, following 
on in ceaseless round until they waste away in this their winding 
sheet. Occasionally, some are thrown out and are borne along 
a circuitous route to the rapids which commence at the outlet 
of the whirlpool ; a few find a resting place on the beach, where 
they present many very grotesque forms, some resembling the 
boomareng of the New Hollander, others cimiters, rolling-pins, 
and the like. 
The sketch, fig. 3, was taken at the northern extremity near 
the gorge, marked F, fig. 1. In going up this narrow gorge, 
through which a small stream flows, I was very much interested 
M Noticing that the high perpendicular rocks which form part 
Niagara group on my left, presented the same wall-like ap- 
pearance as in the ravine through which the river flows, from the 
falls to Queenston. Fragments of limestone rock which once 
crowned the summit of the precipice, lay in confusion at its base. 
On my right rose the steep cliff of drift, H, with its motley group 
of boulders extending from F toG. As I was exploring this 
wil picturesque gorge, formed at the western extremity of the 
lateral valley by the descending rains washing away the sand 
Secon Sxriss, Vol. IV, No. 10. —July, 1847. 5 
