Niagara Falls 



Niagara An Aboriginal Center of Trade 

 1906 The printed story of Niagara dates back only three centuries; 



er and during the first three decades of even that period the refer- 



ences to this wonderful handiwork of Nature — which was located 

 in a then unexplored region of a New World, a Continent then 

 inhabited only by warring tribes of superstitious Savages — are 

 few and far between. 



Three facts relating to this locality — and three only — seem 

 to be proven as ante-dating the commencement of that printed 

 story. 



That its " Portage " had long been in use. 



That it was then, and long had been, a spot for the annual 

 assemblage of the Indians " for trade." 



That here, and here only, was found a certain substance which 

 the Aborigines had long regarded as a cure for many human ills. 



Before 1 600, everything else that we think we know, and like 

 to quote about Niagara, is only Indian Myth or Tradition; pos- 

 sibly handed down for Ages, orally, from generation to genera- 

 tion, amongst the Aborigines; or, quite as probable, it is the 

 invention of some Indian or White man Mythologist of recent 

 times; the presumption in favor of the latter being strengthened, 

 when no mention of the legend, not even the slightest reference 

 thereto, is to be found in any of the writings of any of the authors, 

 who (either through personal visits to the Tribes living com- 

 paratively near to the Cataract, or from narrations told to them 

 by Indians living elsewhere on this Continent) had learnt their 

 facts at first hand, and had then duly recorded them, — until 

 long after the beginning of the eighteenth Century. 



It is probably to the latter class — modern traditions — even 

 with all their plausibilities, based upon the superstitious and 

 stoical nature of the best-known Legends concerning Niagara 

 belong. 



Three of those legends, especially, appeal to the imagination. 

 One relates to Worship, one to Healing, one to Burial, — embrac- 

 ing the Deity, Disease, and Death. 



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