Niagara Falls 



1818 reached the gulf below. But the water towards each side of the 

 Fall is shattered the moment it drops over the rock. 

 The surface of the gulf below the cataract presents a very singu- 

 lar aspect ; seeming, as it were, filled with an immense quantity of 

 hoar frost, which is agitated by small and rapid undulations. 

 The particles of water are dazzlingly white, and do not appar- 

 ently unite together, as might be supposed, but seem to continue 

 for a time in a state of distinct comminution, and to repel each 

 other with a thrilling and shivering motion which cannot easily 

 be described. 



The road to the bottom of the Fall presents many more diffi- 

 culties than that which leads to the Table Rock. After leaving 

 the Table Rock, the traveller must proceed down the river nearly 

 half a mile, where he will come to a small chasm in the bank, in 

 which there is a spiral staircase enclosed in a wooden building. 

 By descending this stair, which is seventy or eighty feet perpen- 

 dicular height, he will find himself under the precipice on the 

 top of which he formerly walked. . . . As the traveller 

 advances, he is frightfully stunned by the appalling noise ; clouds 

 of spray sometimes envelope him, and suddenly check his falter- 

 ing steps, — rattlesnakes start from the cavities of the rocks, and 

 the scream of eagles soaring among the whirlwinds of eddying 

 vapour which obscure the gulf of the cataract, at intervals 

 announce that the raging waters have hurled some bewildered 

 animal over the precipice. After scrambling among piles of 

 huge rocks that obstruct his way, the traveller gains the bottom 

 of the Fall, where the soul can be susceptible only of one 

 emotion, — that of uncontrollable terror. 



It was not until I had, by frequent excursions to the Falls, in 

 some measure familiarized my mind with their sublimities, that 

 I ventured to explore the penetralia of the Great Cataract. The 

 precipice over which it rolls is very much arched underneath, 

 while the impetus which the water receives in its descent projects 

 it far beyond the cliff, and thus an immense Gothic arch is formed 

 by the rock and the torrent. Twice I entered this cavern, and 



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