Niagara Falls 



1834 two and three days. The first time we approached the falls 

 Martmeau f rom g u ff a } 0> tne next> f rom Lewistown and Queenstown. 



We stepped into the stage at Buffalo at half past eight in 

 the morning on the 14th of October. At Black Rock we got 

 out to cross the ferry. We looked at the green rushing waters 

 we were crossing, and wondered whether they or we should be 

 at the falls first. We had to wait some minutes for the stage 

 on the Canada side, and a comely English woman invited us 

 into her kitchen to warm ourselves. 



The road is extremely bad all the way from the ferry to 

 the falls, and the bridges the rudest of the rude. The few 

 farms looked decaying, and ill-clad children offered us autumn 

 fruit for sale. We saw nothing to flatter our national compla- 

 cency; for truly the contrast with the other side of the river was 

 mournful enough. It was not until we had passed the inn with 

 the sign of the " Chippaway Battle Ground " that we saw the 

 spray from the falls. I believe we might have seen it sooner 

 if we had known where to look. " Is that it?" we all exclaimed. 

 It appeared on the left-hand side, whereas we had been looking 

 to the right; and instead of its being suspended in the air like 

 a white cloud, as we had imagined, it curled vigorously up, like 

 smoke from a cannon or from a replenished fire. The winding 

 of the road presently brought this round to our right hand. It 

 seemed very near : the river, too, was as smooth as oil. The begin- 

 ning of the Welland canal was next pointed out to me, but it 

 was not a moment to care for canals. Then the little Round 

 Island, covered with wood and surrounded by rapids, lay close 

 at hand, and a recess of the Canada shore. Some of the 

 rapids, of eight or ten feet descent, would be called falls else- 

 where. They were glittering and foamy, with spaces of green 

 water between. I caught a glimpse of a section of the cataract, 

 but not any adequate view, before we were driven briskly up to 

 the door of the hotel. We ran quickly from piazza to piazza 



196 



