Niagara Falls 



17S9 about three hundred feet. The slope which separates the upper 

 and the lower country, is generally very steep, and in many places 

 almost perpendicular. It is formed by horizontal strata of stone, 

 great part of which is what we commonly call lime stone. The 

 slope may be traced from the north side of lake Ontario, near 

 the bay of Toronto, round the west end of the lake; thence its 

 direction is generally east; between lake Ontario, and lake Erie 

 it crosses the strait of Niagara, and the Cheneseco river, after 

 which it becomes lost in the country towards the Seneca Lake. 

 It is to this slope that our country is indebted, both for the cata- 

 ract of Niagara and the great falls of the Cheneseco. 



The cataract of Niagara was formerly down at the northern 

 side of the slope, near to that place, which is now known by 

 the name of the Landing; but from the great quantity of water, 

 and the distance which it falls, the solid stone is worn away, for 

 about seven miles, up towards lake Erie, and a chasm is formed 

 which no person can approach without horror. 



Down this chasm the water rushes with a most astonishing 

 velocity, after it makes the great pitch. In going up the road 

 near this chasm, the fancy is constantly engaged in the contem- 

 plation of the most romantick and awful prospects imaginable, 

 till at length, the eye catches the falls — the imagination is 

 instantly arrested, and you admire in silence ! The river is about 

 one hundred and thirty-five poles wide, at the falls, and the per- 

 pendicular pitch one hundred and fifty feet ; ... to these add 

 fifty-eight feet, which the water falls, and we have two hundred 

 and seventy-three feet, which the water falls in a distance of about 

 seven miles and a half. If either ducks or geese inadvertently 

 alight in the rapids above the great cataract, they are incapable 

 of getting on the wing again, and are instantly hurried to 

 destruction. 



There is one appearance at this cataract worthy of some atten- 

 tion, and which I do not remember to have seen noted by any 

 writer. Just below the great pitch, the water and foam may be 

 seen puffed up in spherical figures, nearly as large as common 



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