Niagara Falls 



1678 down on that side, into the Place where the four Coaches may 

 go a-breast, or to make his way through such a quantity of 

 Water as falls towards the Gulph: So that 'tis very probable, 

 that to this dry Place it is that the Rattle-Snakes retire, by 

 certain Passages which they find under ground. 



From the end then of this Island it is, that these two Great 

 Falls of Waters, as also the third but now mention'd, throw 

 themselves, after a most surprising manner, down into a dreadful 

 Gulph six hundred Foot and more in depth. I have already 

 said, that the Waters which Discharge themselves at the [220] 

 Cascade to the East, fall with lesser force; whereas those to the 

 West tumble all at once, making two Cascades; one moderate, 

 the other very violent and strong, which at last make a kind of 

 Crochet, or square Figure, falling from South to North, and 

 West to East. After this, they rejoin the Waters of the other 

 Cascade that falls to the East, and so tumble down altogether, 

 though unequally, into the Gulph, with all the violence that can 

 be imagin'd, from a Fall of six hundred Foot, which makes the 

 most Beautiful, and at the same time most Frightful Cascade 

 in the World. 



After these Waters have thus discharg'd themselves into this 

 dreadful Gulph, they begin to resume their Course, and continue 

 the great River of St. Lawrence for two Leagues, as far as 

 the three Mountains which are on the East of the River, and the 

 great Rock which is on the West, and lifts it self three Fathoms 

 above the Waters, or thereabouts. The Gulph into which these 

 Waters are discharg'd continues it self thus two Leagues 

 together, between a Chain of Rocks, flowing with a prodigious 

 Torrent, which is bridled and kept in by the Rocks that lie on 

 each side of the River. 



Into this Gulph it is, that these several Cascades empty them- 

 selves, with a violence equal to the height from whence they 

 fall, and the quantity of Waters, which they discharge. Hence 

 arise those deafning Sounds, that dreadful roaring and bellow- 

 ing of the Waters which drown the loudest Thunder, as also 



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