Niagara Falls 



1818 Table Rock. The rent extended to within a few yards of this 

 celebrated spot, but no part of it gave way ; how long it may be 

 ere it does so, none can say. 



The top of the Table Rock forms a circular platform of con- 

 siderable area, on the same level, and in immediate contact, with 

 the western extremity of the British fall. It extends backward 

 for several yards, and I put the point of my shoe into the water, 

 with perfect safety, immediately before it was precipitated from 

 the cliff. In front the rock projects some feet beyond the line of 

 the fall, and of the inferior mass of rocks upon which it is sup- 

 ported; it requires not a little nerve to approach the edge, but 

 the landlord told us that he has seen people sitting with their 

 feet hanging over it, coolly engaged in sketching a view of the 

 falls. 



• • • • • 



Leaving the Table Rock we returned by the winding foot 

 path, and a short way below the road from the distillery we 

 reached the ladder, which conducts to the bed of the river. I 

 had imagined that there must be a good deal of danger con- 

 nected with descending, but on the contrary it is perfectly safe. 

 The top of the ladder is secured between the stumps of two trees, 

 against the side of a deep gash in the rock, and slopes down along 

 the face of the precipice, the lower end resting upon a large 

 accumulation of soil and rock which has formerly fallen from 

 above. 



There is some difficulty however in getting forward, after 

 having arrived at the foot of the ladder. The path lies to the 

 right along a sloping bank of earth and stones, alternately rising 

 and falling, though ultimately descending as you approach the 

 falls. The footway is so narrow that it admits of no more than 

 one abreast; it is besides wet and slippery throughout, and in 

 many places encumbered with fragments of rock. To look up is 

 frightful; in some places the higher stratum of rock overhangs 

 the rest most threateningly, and the fissures are so numerous, that 

 the whole fabric of the bank seems to be held together by a most 



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