Niagara Falls 



m 



1678 this Prodigy of Nature as great as it deserves. In the mean 

 time, accept the following Draught, such as it is; in which how- 

 ever I have endeavour'd to give the curious Reader as just an 

 Image of it as I could. 



From the Mouth of the Lake Erie to the Great Fall, are 

 reckon'd six Leagues, as I have said, which is the continuation 

 of the Great River of St. Lcrvrence, which arises out of the four 

 Lakes above-mention'd. The River, you must needs think, is 

 very rapid for these six Leagues, because of the vast Discharge of 

 Waters which fall into it out of the said Lakes. The Lands, 

 which lie on both sides of it to the East and West, are all level 

 from the Lake Erie to the Great Fall. Its Banks are not steep; 

 on the contrary, the Water is almost always level with the Land. 

 'Tis certain, that the Ground towards the Fall is lower, by the 

 more than ordinary swiftness of the Stream; and yet *tis not 

 perceivable to the Eye for the six Leagues abovesaid. 



After it has run thus violently for six Leagues, it [218] meets 

 with a small sloping Island, about half a quarter of a League 

 long, and near three hundred Foot broad, as well as one can 

 guess by the Eye; for it is impossible to come at it in a Canow 

 of Bark, the Waters run with that force. The Isle is full of 

 Cedar and Firr; but the Land of it lies no higher than that on 

 the Banks of the River. It seems to be all level, even as far as 

 the two great Cascades that make the Main Fall. 



The two sides of the Channels, which are made by the Isle, 

 and run on both sides of it, overflow almost the very Surface of 

 the Earth of the said Isle, as well as the Land that lies on the 

 Banks of the River to the East and West, as it runs South and 

 North. But we must observe, that at the end of the Isle, on the 

 side of the two great Falls, there is a slooping Rock which 

 reaches as far as the Great Gulph, into which the said Waters 

 fall ; and yet the Rock is not at all wetted by the two Cascades 

 which fall on both sides, because the two Torrents which are 



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