Niagara Falls 



1853 The bank on our right was covered with the richest foliage of 



Kingston every tree, from the deepest red to the faintest yellow, and with 

 every variety of green and brown which Nature's brush can pro- 

 duce. Beyond this highly-coloured framework were seen the 

 Falls, with their green and blue and whitened waters. A neat, 

 well-built boat, about sixteen feet in length, lay drawn up on the 

 rocky beach. In attendance on her stood a most uncouth-looking 

 lad, whittling to keep his fingers from being idle. As we gazed at 

 the white mass of raging foam hurtling down the cliff before us, 

 and the whirling, eddying waters which must be crossed before 

 we could reach the opposite shore, we felt that had we not seen 

 the same slight lad rowing backwards and forwards many times 

 in the day, we should have hesitated long indeed before we had 

 ventured within the power of their fearful vortex. 



A back eddy enabled us to get up the stream towards 

 the great fall without difficulty, and then thrusting forth into it, 

 we were whirled downwards again many fathoms in the direction 

 of the whirlpool ; while clouds of spray, driven by the wind from 

 both falls, showered down upon our v/aterproofs, till we looked 

 as if we had been diving under the very cataracts themselves. 

 Our surly Charon pulled right sturdily across the troubled tide, 

 when, much to our satisfaction, another eddy caught our boat, 

 and took us up to a rough stage at the foot of a perpendicular 

 cliff, up which it was difficult to discover how we should manage 

 to ascend. It was grand to look upwards through the mist, for 

 not fifty yards from our heads came thundering down the Ameri- 

 can cataract, with a fury which made us content not to approach 

 it nearer. The boat was now urged up a slide, and landing in a 

 dense shower of spray, we found ourselves at the foot of a long 

 wooden tunnel, with a railway and a flight of steps within it 

 leading to the top of the cliff. As we had no fancy to perform a 

 labour which would be looked on as a highly satisfactory penance 

 by a pious Romanist, we took our seats in a car ; and a bell being 

 rung by our boatman, we were speedily drawn upwards into the 



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