Travelers Original Accounts: 1801-1840 

 The noise is greatly less than I expected: one can hear *832 



, . . i . -i- Trollope 



with perfect distinctness every thing said in an ordinary tone, 

 when quite close to the cataract. The cause of this, I imagine 

 to be, that it does not fall immediately among rocks, like the 

 far noisier Potomac, but direct and unbroken, save by its own 

 rebound. The colour of the water, before this rebound hides 

 it in foam and mist, is of the brightest and most delicate green; 

 the violence of the impulse sends it far over the precipice before 

 it falls, and the effect of the ever varying light through its trans- 

 parency is, I think, the loveliest thing I ever looked upon. 



We descended to the edge of the gulf which receives the tor- 

 rent, and thence looked at the horse-shoe fall in profile; it seems 

 like awful daring to stand close beside it, and raise one's eyes 

 to its immensity. I think the point the most utterly inconceivable 

 to those who have not seen it, is the centre of the horse-shoe. 

 The force of the torrent converges there, and as the heavy mass 

 pours in, twisted, wreathed, and curled together, it gives an idea 

 of irresistible power, such as no other object ever conveyed to me. 



The following anecdote, which I had from good authority, 

 may give some notion of this mighty power. 



After the last American war, three of our ships, stationed on 

 lake Erie, were declared unfit for service, and condemned. Some 

 of their officers obtained permission to send them over Niagara 

 Falls. The first was torn to shivers by the rapids, and went 

 over in fragments ; the second filled with water before she reached 

 the fall; but the third, which was in better condition, took the 

 leap gallantly, and retained her form till it was hid in the cloud 

 of mist below. A reward of ten dollars was offered for the 

 largest fragment of wood that should be found from either wreck, 

 five for the second, and so on. One morsel only was ever seen, 

 and that about a foot in length, was mashed as by a vice, and 

 its edges notched like the teeth of a saw. What had become 

 of the immense quantity of wood which had been precipitated? 

 What unknown whirlpool had engulphed it, so that, contrary to 



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