Kaim 



Niagara Falls 



5750 Lower the canoes dare not come, lest they should be obliged to 

 try the fate of the two Indians, and perhaps with less success. 

 — They have often found below the Fall pieces of human 

 bodies, perhaps of drunken Indians, that have uphappily come 

 down the Fall. I was told at Oswego, that in October, or 

 thereabouts, such plenty of feathers are to be found here below 

 the Fall, that a man in a days time can gather enough of them 

 for several beds, which feathers they said came off the birds 

 kill'd at the Fall. I ask'd the French, if this was true? They 

 told me they had never seen any such thing; but that if the 

 feathers were pick'd off the dead birds, there might be such a 

 quantity. The French told me, they had often thrown whole 

 great trees into the water above, to see them tumble down the 

 Fall. They went down with surprising swiftness, but could 

 never be seen afterwards; whence it was thought there was a 

 bottomless deep or abyss just under the Fall. I am also of 

 Opinion, that there must be a vast deep here; yet I think if they 

 had watched very well, they might have found the trees at some 

 distance below the Fall. The rock of the Fall consists of a grey 

 limestone. 



Here you have, Sir, a short but exact description of this 

 famous Niagara cataract: you may depend on the truth of what 

 I write. You must excuse me if you find in my account, no 

 extravagant wonders. I cannot make nature otherwise than I 

 find it. I had rather it should be said of me in time to come, 

 that I related things as they were, and that all is found to 

 agree with my Description; than to be esteem'd a false Relater. 

 I have seen some other things in this my journey, an account of 

 which I know would gratify your curiosity; but time at present 

 will not permit me to write more; and I hope shortly to see you. 

 I am, &c. 



Peter Kalm. 



" This is the earliest account of Niagara Falls written in English." 

 The author was an eminent Swedish botanist. His keen observations 

 are not only interesting but valuable. He saw the Falls 72 years after 



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