Preservation of the Falls 



interior of a large shed, which we found stood on the summit of 1853 

 the cliff. Dismounting, we paid sixpence to a man who, pointing ing * ,0 ° 

 to a door, said, " There are the Falls." 



The show-like look of the place, and the man's indifferent tone, 

 were dreadfully unromantic, and almost made us fancy that we 

 were going to see a painted panorama instead of the reality. 

 However, on passing through a garden, and finding ourselves on 

 the very edge of the Fall, we instantly forgot the vulgar method 

 by which we had reached the spot. In a succession of the wildest 

 foaming billows the waters come rushing down a steeply-inclined 

 plane, till they glide in a compact mass over the cliff, where they 

 burst instantly into sheets of foam. 



Passing along the edge of these whirling, giddying rapids, we 

 crossed a small stream, a modest contribution to the waters of 

 Niagara ; then through a lumber-yard, belonging to one of many 

 saw-mills with which the American Falls are adorned ; and finally 

 taking the way over a long wooden bridge to the right, thrown 

 from rock to rock, we crossed the very rapids themselves to Goat 

 Island. Looking upwards from the centre of this bridge, the 

 spectacle is indeed curious. From so much greater a height do the 

 waters of the rapids come than that on which we were standing, 

 making it impossible to see the land beyond them, that literally 

 they seem to be leaping, rolling, and tumbling, in long wreaths of 

 foam out of the sky itself. On our left, bordering the river, were 

 flourishing rows of saw, corn, cotton, and paper mills; while 

 others, in their lust of gain, had boldly encroached into the very 

 rapids themselves. Truly Jonathan has made good use of the 

 unrivalled water-power at his disposal ; though we, in our romantic 

 mood, felt a high-souled contempt for the sordid minds which can 

 make Niagara turn their mill-wheels on the very verge of his own 

 cataracts, like a captive prince chained to mean labour in the 

 palace of his fathers. We were glad that the Canadian side was 

 free from such incongruous ornaments, but we agreed not to make 

 too minute inquiries as to the cause. The pagodas and temples, 



1083 



