Niagara Falls 



1678 that goods are carried. There is a very fine road, very little 

 inepm wooc | j anc j a l mos t a ll prairies mingled with some oaks and firs, 



on both banks of the river, which are of a height that inspire 



fear when you look down. 



This is Hennepin's first and most trustworthy description of the Falls. 

 It is briefer and far more conservative than his later versions. 

 According to Porter, 1 this description is "without a' parallel" and 

 "stands out as the most impressive, as well as the quaintest, brief men- 

 tion of Niagara that was ever penned." 



HENNEPIN, Louis. Nouvelle decouverte d'un tres grand pays Situe 

 dans l'Amerique, entre Le Nouveau Mexique, et La Mer Glaciale, Avec 

 les Cartes, & les Figures necessaires, & de l'Histoire Naturelle & Morale, 

 & les avantages, qu'on en peut tirer par l'etablissement des colonies 

 . . . A Utrecht. Chez Guillaume Broedelet. 1697. Pp. 44-46, 

 441-456. 



Hennepin, Louis. A new discovery of a vast country in America, 

 extending above four thousand miles between New France and New 

 Mexico; with a description of the great lakes, cataracts, rivers, plants, and 

 animals . . . London. Printed for M. Bentley, J. Tonson, H. 

 Bonwick, T. Goodwin, and S. Manship. 1689. Pp. 24-25, 216-221, 

 or, 29-30, 266-274. 



Pages 24—25 or 29-30 contain the account most frequently quoted and 

 perhaps best known. In it various details have been added to the earlier 

 description and the height of the Falls has been increased to 600 feet. 



Hennepin, Louis. A new discovery of a vast country in America, 

 by Father Louis Hennepin; reprinted from the second London issue of 

 1 698, with facsimiles of original title-pages, maps, and illustrations, and 

 the addition of introduction, notes, and index by Reuben Gold Thwaites 

 . . . Chicago: A. C. McClurg. 1903. Vol. I, pp. 54-55, 

 317-323. 



After we had row'd above an hundred and forty Leagues 

 upon the Lake Erie, by reason of the many Windings of the 

 Bays and Creeks which we were forc'd to coast, we pass'd by 

 the Great Fall of Niagara, and spent half a Day in considering 

 the Wonders of that prodigious Cascade. 



1 Niagara an Aboriginal Trade Center, p. 15. 



24 



