Falls of the Niagara. 6 



steep and thickly wooded bank, brings us upon Tabic Rock, 

 a flat ledge of limestone, forming the brink of the precipice, 

 the upper stratum of which is a jagged shelf, no more than 

 about a foot in thickness, jutting out over the gulf below. 

 Here the whole scene breaks upon us. Looking up the river, 

 we face the grand crescent, called the British or Horseshoe 

 Fall. Opposite to us is Goat Island, which divides the Falls, 

 and lower down to the left, is the American Fall. And what 

 is the first impression made upon the beholder? Decidedly, 

 I should say, that of beauty; of sovereign, majestic beauty, it 

 is true, but still that of beauty, soul-filling beauty, rather than 

 of awful sublimity. Every thing is on so large a scale ; the 

 height of the cataract is so much exceeded by its breadth,* 

 and so much concealed by the volumes of mist which wrap 

 and shroud its feet ; you stand so directly on the same level 

 with the falling waters ; you see so large a portion of them 

 at a considerable distance from you -, and their roar comes 

 up so moderated from the deep abyss, that the loveliness of 

 the scene, at first sight, is permitted to take precedence of 

 its grandeur. Its coloring alone is of the most exquisite kind. 

 The deep sea-green of the centre of the crescent, where it is 

 probable the greatest mass of water falls, lit up with succes- 

 sive flashes of foam, and contrasted with the rich, creamy 

 whiteness of the two sides or wings of the same crescent ; 

 then the sober gray of the opposite precipice of Goat Island, 

 crowned with the luxuriant foliage of its forest trees, and 

 connected still further on with the pouring snows of the 

 greater and less American Falls ; the agitated and foamy 

 surface of the waters at the bottom of the Falls, followed by 

 the darkness of their hue as they sweep along through the 

 perpendicular gorge beyond : the mist, floating about, and 

 veiling objects with a softening indistinctness ; and the bright 

 rainbow which is constant to the sun — altogether form a 

 combination of color, changing too with any change of light, 

 every variation of the wind, and every hour of the day, which 

 the painter's art cannot imitate, and which nature herself 

 ha^ perhaps only effected here. 



And the motion of these Falls, how wonderfully fine it is! 

 how graceful, how stately, how calm! There is nothing in it 

 hurried or headlong, as you might have supposed. The eye is 

 so long in measuring the vast, and yet unacknowledged height, 

 that they seem to move over almost slowly ; the central and 

 most voluminous portion of the Horseshoe even goes down 



*The height of the Horseshoe Fall is 150 feet ; its breadth 2376 feet. 



