Niagara Falls 



1710 A Gentleman who was Travelling this Part, went to see this 



Heap, which comes from a River in the North, and falls into a 

 great Basin of Lake Outano, big enough to hold a Hundred 

 Men of War, being there he taught the Natives to catch Fish 

 with their Hands, by causing Trees to be cut down in the Spring, 

 and to be roll'd to the Bank of the River, so that he might be 

 upon them without wetting himself; by the Assistance of which 

 he thrust his Arm into the Water up to the Elbow, where he 

 found a prodigious Quantity of Fish of different Species, which 

 he laid hold on by the Gills, gently stroking 'em, and when he 

 had taken Fifty or Sixty of 'em at a Time, he use to warm and 

 refresh himself; after this Manner, in a short Time he would 

 catch Fish enough to feed Fifty or Sixty families. 



1721 



Charlevoix 



1721 



Charlevoix, Pierre Francois Xavier de. Histoire et descrip- 

 tion generale de la Nouvelle France, avec le Journal Historique d'un 

 voyage fait par ordre du roi dans TAmerique Septentrionale. Paris. 

 Chez la Veuve Ganeau. 1 744. Vol. V, pp. 335-336, 343-347. 



Charlevoix, Pierre Francois Xavier de. Journal of a Voyage 

 to North-America. Undertaken by order of the French King. Containing 

 the geographical description and natural history of that country, particu- 

 larly Canada ... In a series of letters to the Duchess of Lesdi- 

 guieres. Translated from the French. London: R. and J. Dodsley. 

 1761. Vol. I, pp. 345-356. 



Charlevoix is perhaps the best known of the early Jesuit writers on 

 America. He was at Niagara Falls in May, 1 72 1 . His account of the 

 Falls is contained in three letters written to the Duchess of Lesdiguieres. 

 It will be noticed that he employs the term "horseshoe" to describe the 

 shape of the fall. 



(Niagara, May 23, 1721.) 



Now, Madam, we must acknowledge, that nothing but 

 zeal for the publick good could possibly induce an officer to 

 remain in such a country as this, than which a wilder and more 

 frightful is not to be seen. On the one side you see just under 

 your feet, and as it were at the bottom of an abyss, a great 



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