288 AUDUBON 



several views of the Falls, by which I was so disgusted 

 that I suddenly came to my better senses. " What ! " 

 thought I, " have I come here to mimic nature in her 

 grandest enterprise, and add my caricature of one of the 

 wonders of the world to those which I here see? No; 

 I give up the vain attempt. I shall look on these mighty 

 cataracts and imprint them, where alone they can be 

 represented — on my mind ! " 



Had I taken a view, I might as well have given you 

 what might be termed a regular account of the form, the 

 height, the tremendous roar of these Falls ; might have 

 spoken of people perilling their lives by going between the 

 rock and the sheet of water, calculated the density of the 

 atmosphere in that strange position, related wondrous 

 tales of Indians and their canoes having been precipitated 

 the whole depth — might have told of the narrow, rapid, 

 and rockbound river that leads the waters of the Erie into 

 those of Ontario, remarking en passant the Devil's Hole 

 and sundry other places or objects. But, supposing you 

 had been there, my description would prove useless, and 

 quite as puny as my intended view would have been for 

 my family; and should you not have seen them, and are 

 fond of contemplating the more magnificent of the Crea- 

 tor's works, go to Niagara, reader ; for all the pictures you 

 may see, all the descriptions you may read, of these 

 mighty Falls, can only produce in your mind the faint 

 glimmer of a glow-worm compared with the overpowering 

 glory of the meridian sun. 



I breakfasted amid a crowd of strangers, who gazed and 

 laughed at me, paid my bill, rambled about and admired 

 the Falls for a while, saw several young gentlemen sketch- 

 ing on cards the mighty mass of foaming waters, and 

 walked to Buffalo, where I purchased new apparel and 

 sheared my beard. I then enjoyed civilized life as much 

 as, a month before, I had enjoyed the wildest solitudes 

 and the darkest recesses of mountain and forest. 



