Travelers' Original Accounts: 1 801 -1 840 



The way in which I found that I could best comprehend the 1836 

 magnitude and character of the stupendous cataract, was by 

 lying flat upon the ground in its near vicinity, mentally dissecting 

 it as it were whilst so recumbent, and then forming combinations 

 of the particles ad infinitum. I know not if this suggestion be, 

 or not, a novel one; but in my own case, its adoption was the 

 result of accident, as I found that, when close upon them, I 

 could not regard the Falls for many minutes together in .an erect 

 posture, without succumbing to an attracting influence, which I 

 can compare only to the fascination exercised by the loadstone 

 or the eye of the rattle-snake. I, therefore, adopted the alterna- 

 tive of prostrating myself (which answered the two-fold purpose 

 of reverence and convenience), and was in such wise enabled to 

 contemplate, for hours together, without apprehension for my 

 personal safety, the stupendous monument of ages that stood 

 reared before me. 



Another means of arriving at a right appreciation of the mag- 

 nitude of the Falls, is to perch yourself on the summit of the 

 tower which stands upon a ledge of rock just below Goat Island, 

 and to look down from thence, not upon the Falls, but upon the 

 centre of the rapids, and then following with your eye the mad- 

 dened waters, as they converge, seemingly grasped by the out- 

 stretched fingers (gathering from all points) of a concealed 

 giant's hand, towards the middle of the Chute, trace them until 

 they are finally precipitated into the troubled vortex below. 



All immediately above, as also immediately beneath the sheet 

 of water projected over, appears to be hurry, turmoil, wrath, and 

 wild confusion; in the midst of which the propelled body, as if 

 tacitly chiding the struggling waters in its rear for the display 

 of so much petulant impatience, assumes to itself a calm placid 

 dignity and business-like air, implying that there exists no 

 necessity for haste, and drops, by means of its dense cubic weight, 

 in close compact solidity to the bottom. 



219 



