198 Miscellanies. 



which in certain respects must differ from the reality, and may therefore 

 lead him to imagine the latter has fallen short of his previous conceptions. 

 Thus I had imagined that the fury of the waters after they had been 

 launched over the cataract would have been more terrific, and was sur- 

 prised at seeing the ease with which an insignificant ferry-boat crossed 

 the stream within a very short distance below. The noise produced by 

 the waterfall itself, I had also conceived would have been more stunning; 

 and it was with a feeling nearly allied to what one might entertain at hear- 

 ing a person of solid weight and character, talked down by a noisy upstart 

 of yesterday, that I found the roar of this stupendous natural phenomenon 

 overpowered by the hissing of a locomotive which was letting off" its steam 

 at the railroad station adjoining. 



" The presence of these evidences of human ingenuity was in other 

 respects alsp very unpropitious to the feelings which the scene itself was 

 calculated to inspire ; and though no enemy to railroads or manufactories 

 in their proper place, I could have wished all vestiges, both of the one and 

 of the other, banished from a spot where nature ought to be allowed to 

 reign undisturbed and alone. 



" But after a time, these first prepossessions wore away, and T then be- 

 gan to feel more impressed with the solemnity of the sound which the cat- 

 aract produces in its descent, than I had expected to have been, by the 

 deafening tumult of waters for which my imagination had prepared me. 



" In surveying it too under various aspects and at different distances, I 

 found new sources of admiration and astonishment continually presenting 

 themselves, of which I had previously no conception; nor did the interest 

 of the scene appear to flag, when I turned to contemplate the phenom- 

 ena presented in the course of the river both above and below, which 

 may be regarded, either as concomitants, or as consequences of the cata- 

 ract itself" 



This is followed by a graphic account of the various features exhibited 

 by the majestic waterfall at the different points from which it may be 

 observed, as also of the scenery connected with it. 



In relation to the sandstone of the Connecticut river, Dr. Daubeny in 

 giving Prof Hitchcock's opinion, that it is equivalent to the new red sand- 

 stone of England, merely remarks, that if this be true, it is singular that 

 no salt is found within it, this being its most appropriate position. He 

 visited one of the localities of bird tracks, and compared the specimens on 

 the surface of the rocks with those in the cabinet of Prof Hitchcock, and 

 fully satisfied himself that they could have been produced only by " birds 

 of various sizes treading upon soft and plastic material." 



An account is given of the coal fields and brine springs of the United 

 States, as also of the thermal waters; the last being treated quite at 

 length. 



