The English Period 



cocks of hay; they burst at the top, and project a column of 1789 

 spray to a prodigious height ; they then subside, and are succeeded 

 by others, which burst in like manner. 



This appearance is most conspicuous about halfway between 

 the island, that divides the falls, and the west side of the strait, 

 where the largest column of water descends. I am, etc., 



Niagara, Dec. 10th, !789. ***«" Ellicott 



1791 



CAMPBELL, PATRICK. Travels in the interior inhabited parts of North 1791 

 America. In the years 1791 and 1792 . . . Edinb. : Guthrie. Campbell 

 1793. Pp. 174-176. 



The author travelled through Canada and the Lower Lake region in 

 1791-1792 spending some time on the Niagara. His book is very 

 rare and a most valuable " source " in some respects. Unfortunately for 

 our purposes, however, he contented himself with Ellicott's figures and 

 the following brief passage. 



A description of these tremendous falls has been so often 

 attempted by preceding travellers, without giving the least idea 

 adequate to the grandeur of the scene, that, lest I split on the 

 same rock, I will not essay it here ; I shall therefore only remark, 

 that there is an island of a mile or two long, and about a quarter 

 broad, which divides the stream about two-thirds over. This 

 island is clad with poor spruce pine, and so overrun with Rattle- 

 snakes, that it was dangerous for any person to walk through it, 

 until a parcel of Swine were put on it, which nearly rooted them 

 out. Hogs are so fond of Snakes, that if once they get a hold, 

 should they be so hard bitten by a strong Rattlesnake as to make 

 them squeel, which sometimes happens, yet they hold fast until 

 the Snake is devoured. It is said a Hog sometimes swells when 

 severely bitten by a Rattlesnake, but that a crevice bursts open 

 between the hoofs, through which the venom is discharged, the 

 swelling subsides, and the Hog soon becomes as well as formerly. 



Chateaubriand, Francois Auguste Rene, Vicomte de. Travels 1791 

 in America and Italy. Lond.: Colburn. 1828. Vol. I, pp. 131-1 34. Chateaubriand 



93 



