126 The Falls of Niagara, 



taken in connection with the appearance of the chasm from 

 whence the waters issue. The height of the chasm {fg. 23. 

 cc) in the sohd rock, independent of the receding diluvial 

 soil, is about 200 feet to the plain ; its width at the opening {d d) 

 is, perhaps, 400 yards. On viewing this highly interesting 

 scene, the mind is irresistibly carried back to the time when 

 a mighty flood poured over the owc^-united precipice at d. 

 .This fact, I think, cannot be doubted by any one who sees its 

 present appearance, and who duly reflects on what a falling 

 body of water, so immense, so rapid, and so resistless in its 

 .course as the river of Niagara, is capable of accomplishing in 

 a series of ages. Taking it for granted that the Falls have 

 once been at c, it is a curious question to enquire, When were 

 they there ? An approximate solution to this enquiry will be 

 ^iven, if Mr. Forsyth's statement be allowed of the Falls having 

 receded nearly 50 yards in the last 40 years, and if it be granted 

 ;that this has been the constant ratio of their recession. The 

 distance from the opening (c) to the Falls is 7 miles, equal 

 to 12,520 yards, which gives 9856 years for the period in 

 .which they have been retrograding to where they now are. It 

 appears evident, from circumstances to be hereafter stated, 

 that the waters were formerly more abundant than they are at 

 present ; nor can we be certain that the rocks were equally 

 hard in every part of their extent, in which case, the process 

 of disintegration would be much quicker, and the period of 

 recession shorter. 



The drawing (Jig, 23.) is intended to represent a birdseye 

 view or map of the country, from an imaginary point above 

 the chasm at Queenstown, and to comprise a view of the 

 river as far as Lake Erie {I T). The distance, as I have before 

 mentioned, from Lake Erie to the Falls is 25 miles, and 

 from the Falls to the opening (c) 7 miles. The waving 

 lines (ff) mark the alluvial or diluvial sand cliffs above the 

 limestone precipices (d). This diluvium covers a great part 

 of the table land. The lines ^^mark the separation between 

 the limestone and the lower shale (hh). It may be proper to 

 observe, that these lines are more distinctly represented than 

 what are seen in nature, the rocks (h) having banks thickly 

 wooded up their sides, and the edges of the precipice are here 

 and there broken. 



It is evident, from the curved and water-worn appearance 

 of the diluvial banks {ff), in which large boulders are em- 

 bedded, that the waters must once have flowed nearly on a 

 level with these banks. This important consideration again 

 carries us back to the period of time when the chasm (c) did 

 not exist, when the parts d d and h h formed but one and the 



