Preservation of the Falls 



on the morning, explored for a couple of hours, dined, and hur- 1834 

 ried away. Or, if they stayed, they had had enough of Niagara, m^mou 

 and they made an excursion to see the burning springs. The 

 album here, too, is full of miserable trash ; it is a sad contrast to 

 the album at Chamouni. 



With the residents I am half disposed to be angry. On the 

 American side they have got up a shabby town, and called it 

 Manchester. Manchester and the Falls of Niagara ! A proposi- 

 tion has been made to buy Goat Island, and turn it into a botani- 

 cal garden, to improve the scenery — and such scenery ! On the 

 Canadian side, a money-seeking party have bought up 400 acres, 

 with the hope of erecting "The City of the Falls; " and still 

 worse, close on the Table Rock, some party was busy in erecting 

 a mill-dam! One has hardly patience to record these things. 

 The universal voice ought to interfere, and prevent them. 

 Niagara does not belong to them; Niagara does not belong to 

 Canada or America. Such spots should be deemed the property 

 of civilized mankind; and nothing should be allowed to weaken 

 their efficacy on the tastes, the morals, and the enjoyments of 

 all men. 



1837 



DAUBENY, CHARLES. Journal of a tour through the United States 1837 

 and in Canada, made during the years 1837—38. T. Combe, ptr. Daubeny 

 Oxford: 1843. Pp. 44-48. 



The author, who was professor of chemistry and botany in the Uni- 

 versity of Oxford, visited the Falls in the fall of 1837. He gives detailed 

 descriptions of the points of interest and laments the evidences of " human 

 ingenuity " so near the Falls. He also examined the mineral springs near 

 the Falls to determine their composition. 



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 surprised at seeing the ease, with which an insig- 

 nificant ferry-boat crossed the stream within a very short distance 

 below. The noise also, produced by the waterfall itself, I had 

 conceived would have been more stunning, and it was with a 



1071 



