120 The Falls of Niagara, 



Goats' Island (e), which divides the American and Canada 

 Falls, presents a bare face of perpendicular rock (h), 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 beautiful feature 

 to the scene. On the falling in of this rock, the water imme- 

 diately above met with an obstruction, 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 does not preserve 

 the same thickness in every part, but varies considerably in 

 this respect. The 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- 



