The English Period 



considerable distance, enjoy this grand spectacle. The rapidity 1796 

 of the stream, which is perceptible several miles from the falls, Liancourt 

 soon carried us to Chippaway. A whole mile before you reach 

 that place, you must keep close under the shore, without which 

 precaution the stream would soon involve the boat, and irre- 

 sistibly hurl it to destruction. You must even make the utmost 

 exertion in rowing to remount the Chippaway Creek, from which 

 the fort takes its name. 



We had no sooner landed, than, with the utmost impatience, 

 we hastened to the falls. . . . The distance of Chippaway 

 from the falls, in a straight line, is but a mile and a half; but 

 the banks of the river form so many flexures, that the road, which 

 winds along them, is three miles long. 



At Chippaway the grand spectacle begins. The river, which 

 has been constantly expanding from Fort Erie to this place, is 

 here upwards of three miles wide ; but on a sudden it is narrowed, 

 and the rapidity of the stream redoubled by the declivity of the 

 ground on which it flows, as well as the sudden contraction of 

 its bed. The channel is rocky; and the interspersed fragments 

 of rocks encrease the violence of the stream. The country is flat 

 and even to this point; but here a range of white rocks arises on 

 each side of the river, which is contracted to half a mile's breadth. 

 This range is a branch of the Alleghany mountains. . . . 

 The river, more closely hemmed in by the rocks on the right, 

 incroaching upon its channel, branches into two arms, one of 

 which flows along the bank, formed by the rocks on the right; 

 and the other, far more considerable, being separated by a small 

 island, makes straight on to the left, and sweeps through a bason 

 of stone, which it fills with much foam and noise. At length, 

 being again obstructed by other rocks, which it meets on its right, 

 it alters its course with redoubled violence, and along with the 

 right arm rushes down a perpendicular ledge of rocks one hun- 

 dred and sixty feet high, nearly half concave, and probably worn 

 out by the incessant impetuosity of the waters. Its width is 

 nearly equal to that of its bed, the uniformity of which is only 



ill 



