The English Period 



are so exceedingly thick, and the ground so rugged, that the 1796 

 task would be arduous in the extreme. c 



The next spot from which we surveyed the falls, was from 

 the part of the cliff nearly opposite to that end of the Fort 

 Schloper Fall, which lies next to the island. You stand here 

 on the edge of the cliff, behind some bushes, the tops of which 

 have been cut down in order to open the view. From hence you 

 have a better prospect of the whole cataract, and are enabled 

 to form a more correct idea of the position of the precipice, than 

 from any one other place. The prospect from hence is more 

 beautiful, but I think less grand than from any other spot. The 

 officer who so politely directed our movements on this occa- 

 sion was so struck with the view from this spot, that he once 

 had a wooden house constructed, and drawn down here by 

 oxen, in which he lived until he had finished several different 

 drawings of the cataract: one of these we were gratified with 

 the sight of, which exhibited a view of the cataract in the 

 depth of winter, when in a most curious and wonderful state. 

 The ice at this season of the year accumulates at the bottom 

 of the cataract in immense mounds, and hugh icicles, like the 

 pillars of a massy building, hang pendent in many places from 

 the top of the precipice, reaching nearly to the bottom. 



Having left this place, we returned once more through the 

 woods bordering upon the precipice to the open fields, and then 

 directed our course by a circuitous path, about one mile in length, 

 to a part of the cliff where it is possible to descend to the bottom 

 of the cataract. The river, for many miles below the precipice, 

 is bounded on each side by steep, and in most parts perpendicular, 

 cliffs, formed of earth and rocks, and it is impossible to descend 

 to the bottom of them, except at two places, where large masses 

 of earth and rocks have crumbled down, and ladders have been 

 placed from one break to another, for the accommodation of 

 passengers. The first of these places which* you come to in 

 walking along the river, from the Horse-shoe Fall downwards, 

 is called the " Indian Ladder," the ladders having been con- 



103 



