The French Period 



all the descents be put together, he does not know but that the 1721 

 difference of the water above the falls and the level below, may Dudlc y 

 come up to Father Hennepin; but the strict and proper cataract 

 on a perpendicular is no more than 26 fathoms, or 156 feet, 

 which yet is a prodigious thing, and what the world I suppose 

 cannot parallel, considering the size of the river, being near a 

 quarter of an English mile broad, and very deep water. 



Several other things M. Borassaw set me right in, as to the 

 falls of Niagara. Particularly it has been said, that the cataract 

 makes such a prodigious noise, that people cannot hear each 

 other speak at some miles distances; whereas he affirms, that 

 you may converse together close by it. I have also heard it 

 positively asserted, that the shoot of the river, when it comes to 

 the precipice, was with such force, that men and horse might 

 march under the body of the river without being wet; this also 

 he utterly denies, and says the water falls in a manner right 

 down. 



What he observed farther to me was, that the mist or shower 

 which the falls make, is so extraordinary, as to be seen at five 

 leagues distance, and rise as high as the common clouds. In 

 this brume or cloud, when the sun shines, you have always a 

 glorious rainbow. That the river itself, which is there called the 

 river Niagara, is much narrower at the falls than either above 

 or below; and that from below there is no coming nearer the 

 falls by water than about six English miles, the torrent is so 

 rapid, and having such terrible whirlpools. 



He confirms Father Hennepin's and Mr. Kelug's[?] account 

 of the large trouts of those lakes, and solemnly affirmed there was 

 one taken lately, that weighed 86 lb. which I am rather inclined 

 to believe, on the general rule, that fish are according to the 

 waters. To confirm which, a very worthy minister affirmed, 

 that he saw a pike taken in a Canada river, and carried on a 

 pole between two men, that measured five feet ten inches in 

 length, and proportionately thick. 



37 



