Niagara Falls 



1787 W e at length, however, struck again into the wood and, passing 

 down its skirts, Mr. H. brought us out a few yards below the 

 Fall. Here I for one sat down for some time in silent admira- 

 tion and astonishment, at a sight which I am fully persuaded no 

 pen or pencil can ever convey across the sea. In our present 

 situation we were too near to the highest part of the Fall, which 

 in a kind of a sketch or plan I have annexed is marked 1 , to 

 enjoy its full beauty, but we had a tolerable good view of the 

 great, or as it is generally called, the Horseshoe Fall, which is 

 here marked 4, 5, 6. To give any adequate idea of the aston- 

 ishing variety which here crowds upon your mind is impossible, 

 and it may be well said to be the real sublime and beautiful con- 

 veyed in the language of nature, infinitely more strong than the 

 united eloquence of Pitt, Fox and Burke, even if we give them 

 the assistance of Loutherbourg to help them. 



As the water during its fall from different parts meeting the 

 rays of the sun in different directions takes an infinite number of 

 different colours and shades ; to this we must add the numberless 

 beautiful breaks in the water ; the delightful verdure which covers 

 the islands and neighbouring shores; the beauty of the most 

 noble rapid which can be conceived, before it ever reaches the 

 brink of the precipice; the astonishing column of spray which 

 rises from the great Fall; the thundering noise which the whole 

 makes by its fall on the heap of stones below, from whence it 

 runs, no longer like water but absolutely in such a state of foam 

 as to appear like a perfect river of milk, for about 1 00 or 1 50 

 yards, after which it resumes its natural state again, although 

 it is still carried away by means of a strong rapid. To all this 

 I must add the lofty banks which surround the basin into which 

 the water falls, the tops of which are covered with noble trees 

 quite close to the edge of these cliffs. Hence I could not help 

 remarking to Mr. Humphrey that before my arrival I expected 

 to have been disappointed, from having my ideas raised too high 

 by hearing so many people join in their praise, but that I was 

 sure from this view alone no one can say too much of it. 



76 



