Niagara Falls 



1785 very sultry that we might be said to be in a fumigating bath. 

 We hastened out of this dreary place, and once more congratu- 

 lating each other with our safety, and in seeing the sun whose 

 beams seem to shine with peculiar lustre, from the pleasure and 

 gaiety it diffused over our trembling senses. 



I found here a kind of calcareous earth, which is called the 

 Surf stone. It certainly derives its formation from some hidden 

 cause proceeding from the agitation of the waters which imbibe 

 certain cohesive particles, but I am not sufficiently acquainted 

 with chemistry to analyze its peculiar properties. 



It is dissolvable in water though formed by it, but it acquires 

 its solidity by being thrown upon its shores and exposed to the sun 

 and air. It seems to have many of the qualities of soap but less 

 greasy. It may be melted by heat, but when cold becomes a solid 

 mass again. When found it has the appearance of Derbyshire 

 Spar or marble, is quite white but much lighter. I saw nothing else 

 curious here. There are great numbers of snakes amongst the 

 rocks, particularly the rattlesnake, which delights in these retired 

 and gloomy places. We found an Indian of the Messasauga 

 nation fishing at the mouth of the Basin. We exchanged some 

 friendly signs and took our leaves. We could have wished 

 for a balloon to have ascended at once, but we were obliged to 

 toil the same way back, in which we were often constrained to 

 repose upon the ground. We at length arrived upon the summit, 

 and who can speak the pleasure we received from our safe return. 

 We had been six hours and upwards descending and ascending. 



1787 



1787 ENYS, Captain. Visit to Niagara. Journal of Capt. Enys, 29th 



Enys regiment, 1787. (Rept. on Can. archives, 1886. Pp. ccxxvi — 



ccxxxiii.) 



The original manuscript of Captain Enys's journal is in the Dominion 

 archives at Ottawa. The only other publication of it beside that cited 

 occurs in Severance's Studies of the Niagara Frontier, pages 363-378. 



74 



