The English Period 



more than two by the line of the River. I followed the Banks 1800 

 of the River, having the spray in sight. au e 



At first I found that I could keep pace with some drift Wood, 

 but which, on reaching the first small breaker, or rapid, began 

 to be carried on faster than a Horse could trot. As I approached 

 the Falls, the Banks of the River became higher and higher, 

 owing to the declivity of its bed, for the ground preserves the same 

 level both above and below the falls. At the beginning of the 

 great Rapids the River-bank is at least one hundred feet high. 



These Rapids are highly beautiful. There are those who 

 admire them as much as the Falls themselves. They certainly 

 would alone make a fine picture; they extend upwards from the 

 edge of the Fall about eight hundred yards, and have a declivity 

 in this distance of about seventy feet, which declivity is very 

 perceptible to the eye. The bed of the river is here very shallow, 

 and thickly strewed with rocks, but which do not appear above 

 the surface, except those along the north-west edge of Goat 

 Island. Those who have seen heavy and dangerous breakers on 

 a rocky sea-coast, may form a good idea of these Rapids. 



From the high bank on which I now stood, I beheld at my 

 feet a plot of cultivated ground, mills and houses — the Rapids 

 — a mill-race formed in the Rapids — an island dividing them, 

 and beyond, Goat Island, dividing the River and the Falls. 

 Descending by a ver}' steep and difficult road, I came to a 

 deserted distillery, where I stopped to recover breath, and to 

 allay my thirst at an excellent spring. I next penetrated a close 

 thicket, interrupted almost at every step by small streams of 

 water ; the roaring of the cataract I took for my guide : emerging 

 from the tangled thicket, I found myself upon the Table Rock, 

 and the Niagara River dashing over it at my feet! . . . To 

 gain a more favourable station, I crept upon my hands and knees 

 to a projection of the rock, which, by a sudden curve at this 

 place, was directly opposite to a huge column of falling water, 

 if water it could now be called ; — for the velocity of the current, 

 the resistance of massy rocks in the Rapids, and the present 



117 



