Niagara Falls 



1796 visited by Europeans., and that they are still receding every year; 

 but of this I shall have occasion to speak more particularly 

 presently. 



It was at an early hour of the day that we left the town of 

 Niagara or Newark, accompanied by the attorney general and 

 an officer of the British engineers, in order to visit these stu- 

 pendous falls. Every step that we advanced toward them, our 

 expectations rose to a higher pitch; our eyes were continually on 

 the look out for the column of white mist which hovers over 

 them; and an hundred times, I believe, did we stop our carriage 

 in hopes of hearing their thundering sound; neither, however, 

 was the mist to be seen, nor the sound to be heard, when we came 

 to the foot of the hills ; nor after having crossed over them, were 

 our eyes or ears more gratified. This occasioned no inconsider- 

 able disappointment, and we could not but express our doubts to 

 each other, that the wondrous accounts we had so frequently 

 heard of the falls were without foundation, and calculated 

 merely to impose on the minds of credulous people that inhabited 

 a distant part of the world. These doubts were nearly confirmed, 

 when we found that, after having approached within half a mile 

 of the place, the mist was but just discernible, and that the sound 

 even then was not to be heard; yet it is nevertheless strictly true, 

 that the tremendous noise of the falls may be distinctly heard, 

 at times, at the distance of forty miles ; and the cloud formed from 

 the spray may be seen even still farther off; but it is only when 

 the air is very clear, and there is a fine blue sky, which however 

 are very common occurrences in this country, that the cloud can 

 be seen at such a great distance. The hearing of the sound of 

 the falls afar off also depends upon the state of the atmosphere; 

 it is observed, that the sound can be heard at the greatest distance, 

 just before a heavy fall of rain, and when the wind is in a favour- 

 able point to convey the sound toward the listener; the day on 

 which we first approached the falls was thick and cloudy. 



On that part of the road leading to Lake Erie which draws 

 nearest to the falls, there is a small village, consisting of about 



