Travelers' Original Accounts: 1801-1840 



eligible, nature having prepared every thing, that there remained 1807 

 little else to do but to build them. As you proceed, Goat Island, 

 which divides the falls, is seen at no great distance on your left; 

 the river between is full of rocks, and here and there you per- 

 ceive considerable lodges of drift wood, seemingly waiting for a 

 rise of the river in order to launch themselves over the falls. 



The margin of the river on this side is much obstructed with 

 trees and bushes, so that it requires some labour to clear away a 

 space sufficiently large to obtain a full view of the falls. You 

 may approach equally as near to the falling sheet on this as on 

 the opposite side of the river; and, by taking a proper station, 

 in the morning of a clear day, upon the edge of the precipice, 

 you will behold beneath your feet a beautiful and variegated 

 rainbow, stretching from the American to the Canada shore, and 

 perpetually rolling, as if it intended to confound all its bright 

 and glorious colours into one confused mass, while each still 

 remains separate and distinct. 



You may, likewise, have a very handsome view not only of 

 the falls, but also of the river both above and below, by climbing 

 sixty or seventy feet up a sturdy old oak, which stands on the 

 margin of the precipice, a small distance below the falls, and 

 near the banks of the river. 



We next went to examine the hole which leads to the lower 

 regions on this side of the river. The appearance of it was so 

 truly frightful that I relinquished the design I had formed of 

 descending it, and returned to my lodgings. Being assured, how- 

 ever, the next day, that the appearance was more dreadful than 

 the reality, and that any person not subject to giddiness, who 

 could depend upon the strength of his arms in sustaining the 

 weight of his body occasionally, might descend in perfect safety, 

 I determined to make the attempt. Procuring a guide and some 

 ropes, I proceeded to the hole, which was not less than two hun- 

 dred feet above the surface of the river. The guide, having made 

 a rope fast to a tree, soon disappeared under the projecting rock, 

 while he repeatedly called on me to follow. Ashamed at length 



141 



