Travelers' Original Accounts Since 1840 



as yet, unknown drama. Yet I, like others, have little to say 1843 

 where the spectacle is, for once, great enough to fill the whole 

 life, and supersede thought, giving us only its own presence. 

 " It is good to be here." is the best as the simplest expression 

 that occurs to the mind. 



We have been here eight days, and I am quite willing to go 

 away. So great a sight soon satisfies, making us content with 

 itself, and with what is less than itself. Our desires, once realized, 

 haunt us again less readily. Having ** lived one day," we would 

 depart, and become worthy to live another. 



We have not been fortunate in weather, for there cannot be 

 too much, or too warm sunlight for this scene, and the skies have 

 been lowering, with cold, unkind winds. My nerves, too much 

 braced up by such an atmosphere, do not well bear the continual 

 stress of sight and sound. For here there is no escape from 

 the weight of a perpetual creation; all other forms and motions 

 come and go, the tide rises and recedes, the wind, at its mighti- 

 est, moves in gales and gusts, but here is really an incessant, an 

 indefatigable motion. Awake or asleep, there is no escape, still 

 this rushing round you and through you. It is in this way I 

 have most felt the grandeur — somewhat eternal, if not infinite. 



At times a secondary music rises; the cataract seems to seize 

 its own rhythm and sing it over again, so that the ear and soul 

 are roused by a double vibration. This is some effect of the 

 wind, causing echoes to the thundering anthem. It is very 

 sublime, giving the effect of a spirtual repetition through all the 

 spheres. 



When I first came I felt nothing but a quiet satisfaction. I 

 found that drawings, the panorama, &c. had given me a clear 

 notion of the position and proportion of all objects here; I knew 

 where to look for everything, and everything looked as I thought 

 it would. 



Long ago, I was looking from a hill-side with a friend at one 

 of the finest sunsets that ever enriched this world. A little cow- 

 boy, trudging along, wondered what we could be gazing at. 

 After spying about some time, he found it could only be the 



235 



