Niagara Falls 



1848 I saw no death of the stream as it fell — no tremendous " ghost 

 rentrce Q j S p ra y anc | m i s t." No voices spoke to me from out the thun- 

 dering water. There was the majestic, softened by the beau- 

 tiful; — calm, gentle, tranquil exceeding loveliness. 



1849 



1849 BAIRD, Robert. Impressions and expressions of the West Indies and 



North America in 1 849. Edinb. and Lond. : Blackwood and Sons. 

 1850. 2:79-95. 



The author's purpose is best expressed in his own words. We quote: 



I will not attempt any detailed description of the Falls, or of 

 their concomitant rapids and whirlpool, but content myself with 

 noting down such suggestions, as to the mode of seeing them, as 

 may spare some after visitor a little of the unnecessary trouble I 

 encountered myself, and aid him in making the best of his time : to 

 which I will add one or two remarks as to those points which 

 appeared to me to form the distinctive characteristics of the 

 magnificent scene. 



Of interest, from a psychological point of view, is his analysis of his 

 feelings at the sight of the cataract. 



The first few minutes of the contemplation was to me posi- 

 tively painful, and left an oppressiveness on my spirits for all the 

 rest of the day. It was not that I was disappointed — that I 

 could not say; and yet the cataracts were something very dif- 

 ferent from what I had conceived them to be. But the precon- 

 ception and the reality were so totally unlike, that comparison 

 of the one with the other was completely out of the question; 

 and that reality was so great, that disappointment was equally 

 precluded from my feelings. I felt oppressed, however, by the 

 first view; and the companion who accompanied me acknowl- 

 edged, as we sat together in the evening listening to the roar, 

 that such also was his experience. It was with a feeling of relief 

 that I turned away from the scene ; and it was not till I had been 

 at Niagara for some days, and had visited these glorious Falls 



244 



