Niagara Falls 



1755-60 of the river in their canoes to escape from a party of the Iroquois 

 who were pursuing them, made vain efforts to resist the impetu- 

 osity of the currents, which did not hinder them from being 

 engulphed in the falls. 



Although the mass of waters falls vertically upon the rocks, 

 there has formed, notwithstanding, by the strong impulse of the 

 current and its great volume, a considerable talus. Baron de la 

 Hontan pretends that below there is a path where three men 

 might easily pass from one side to the other without being wet, 

 or even getting a drop of water upon them. Neither Father 

 Charlevoix nor M. Pouchot speak of this path, and probably 

 no one would like to try it. 



Around the falls we observe the banks eighty feet high, which 

 indicate plainly that the channel which the river has formed, 

 was formerly almost on a level with Lake Erie. The falls of 

 Niagara ought to have then been much higher than at present, 

 and the bed of rock which exists, has been worn little by little 

 to bring it to its present form. 



When we come to the top of the neighboring mountains near 

 the falls, we find a plain three or four leagues wide, which 

 extends from the shores of Toronto around Lake Ontario, vary- 

 ing according to the trend of the shore, to the north-east and 

 south-west. This terrace or chain of hills begins at the northern 

 mountains, and extends eastward into the country of the Five 

 Nations. We cannot doubt but that these hills once formed the 

 lake shore, and that its waters have gradually subsided, leaving 

 the plains that surround it. 



The extent of all the great lakes, and especially that of Lake 

 Erie, which is above the falls of Niagara, has undergone the 

 same change. The banks of the River St. Lawrence, which is 

 their outlet, has not been exempt from this change. The Island 

 of Montreal, formed by two branches of this river, furnishes us 

 the proof of this. Its ridges are elevated considerably above its 

 shores, and show by this, that all the grounds from their foot 

 to the river bank were formerly covered by its waters which 



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