Whirlpool and Rapids below the Falls of Niagara. 33 



On the Canada side, more than three-fourths of this magnificent 

 amphitheatre of rock may be explored along the margin of the 

 pool which it incloses. One reason why so few comparatively 

 visit the whirlpool on this side, is the want of enterprise in the 

 individual who owns the land, in not making the descent more 

 practicable. On visiting the place last summer, it was not only 

 very difficult but dangerous to descend, particularly so after ram. 

 Having 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, fie. 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 tar 

 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 m this their winding 

 sheet. Occasionally, some are thrown out and are borne along 

 in 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. , , . #-,«;#• mar 



The sketch, fig. 3, was taken at the northern extent .near 



the gorge, marked F, fig. L In going up this ■""J'ggj 



through which a small stream flows, I ™J^JTlT^7< 

 in noticing that the high perpendicular rocks which form J* :* 

 the Niagara group on mV left, presented the same wall-Uke ap- 

 pearance as m thi ravine through which the river flows from tie 

 falls to Queenston. Fragments of limestone rock which once 

 crowned the summit of the precipice, lay m confusi oa atits ba«. 

 On my right rose the steep cliff of drift, H, with its «**?£™P 

 of boulde°rs extending from F to G. As I **%£££% u* 

 wild picturesque gorge, formed at the western c *"™7 °\V* 

 lateral valley by the descending rains washing away the sand 



Secord Seiues, Vol. IV, No. 10 —July, 1847. & 



