Niagara Falls 



but the fact remains that Niagara was known even before James- 

 town and Plymouth Rock. Our lack of knowledge, or rather 

 of correct feeling, on this subject is probably to be explained 

 by the fact that the first accounts of Niagara Falls were written 

 in French, and that the work of discovery was done, not by 

 traders or settlers pushing westward from the eastern seaboard, 

 but by priests coming down the St. Lawrence valley into the 

 Great Lakes region to carry the gospel to the Indians, or by 

 soldiers and explorers seeking to defend and extend the French 

 dominion. 



There were no doubt visitors even in the earliest days who did 

 not write of their impressions of the Falls. Doubtless, too, there 

 are other descriptions besides those cited still to be unearthed in 

 old manuscripts, but these possibilities in the way of Niagara 

 literature do not concern us here. The impressive fact for us 

 is the extreme rarity and comparative meagerness, to say nothing 

 of inaccuracy, of the accounts which have been preserved and 

 which we have quoted. Before passing judgment on these 

 sources of information it must be remembered, as already inti- 

 mated, that the accounts given are in most cases those of priests 

 and warriors rather than of professional writers; of men who. 

 wrote with no scientific knowledge to speak of, perhaps without 

 adequate means or even time for due examination, from hearsay 

 often, in haste no doubt, and in the face of hardship and danger. 

 Under the circumstances inaccuracy was natural if not inevi- 

 table. As for exaggeration, that is not to be wondered at before 

 such an immense and unexpected sight. Its effects are impressive 

 enough even today after more than three centuries of informa- 

 tion. What must have been the effects in the case of the lonely 

 traveler who came unexpectedly upon the nameless " Sault " in 

 the primeval wilderness! 



The fact is the discovery of Niagara and the dissemination 

 of correct ideas of it was a slow growth, a process rather than 

 an isolated event. Not only the facts concerning the Falls but 

 the very name of this wonder of the world had to be established. 



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