Travelers' Original Accounts: 1801-1840 



Niagara, July 24, 1 804. 1804 

 My dearest Mother, 



I have seen the Falls, and am all rapture and amazement. 

 . . . Never shall I forget the impression I felt at the first 

 glimpse of them which we got as the carriage passed over the 

 hill that overlooks them. We were not near enough to be 

 agitated by the terrific effects of the scene; but saw through the 

 trees this mighty flow of waters descending with calm magnifi- 

 cence, and received enough of its grandeur to set imagination 

 on the wing; imagination which, even at Niagara, can outrun 

 reality. I felt as if approaching the very residence of the Deity ; 

 the tears started into my eyes; and I remained, for moments after 

 we had lost sight of the scene, in that delicious absorption which 

 pious enthusiasm alone can produce. We arrived at the New 

 Ladder and descended to the bottom. Here all its awful sub- 

 limities rushed full upon me. But the former exquisite sensation 

 was gone. I now saw all. The string that had been touched 

 by the first impulse, and which fane}) would have kept for ever in 

 vibration, now rested at reality. Yet, though there was no more 

 to imagine, there was much to feel. My whole heart and soul 

 ascended towards the Divinity in a swell of devout admiration, 

 which I never before experienced. Oh! bring the atheist here, 

 and he cannot return an atheist! I pity the man who can coldly 

 sit down to write a description of these ineffable wonders; much 

 more do I pity him who can submit them to the admeasurement 

 of gallons and yards. It is impossible by pen or pencil to convey 

 even a faint idea of their magnificence. Painting is lifeless; and 

 the most burning words of poetry have all been lavished upon 

 inferior and ordinary subjects. We must have new combinations 

 of language to describe the Falls of Niagara. 



MuNRO, ROBERT. A description of the Genesee country in the state 1804 

 of New York. New York: Printed for the author. 1804. (O'Cal- Munro 

 laghan, Doc. hist, of the state of New York. 2:1 1 77.) 



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