Niagara Falls 



1820 you not have seen them, and are fond of contemplating the more 

 magnificent of the Creator's works, go to Niagara, reader, for all 

 the pictures you may see, all the descriptions you may read, of 

 these mighty Falls, can only produce in your mind the faint 

 glimmer of a glow-worm compared with the overpowering glory 

 of the meridian sun. 



I breakfasted amid a crowd of strangers, who gazed and 

 laughed at me, paid my bill, rambled about and admired the 

 Falls for a while, saw several young gentlemen sketching on cards 

 the mighty mass of foaming waters, and walked to Buffalo, 

 where I purchased new apparel and sheared my beard. I then 

 enjoyed civilized life as much as, a month before, I had enjoyed 

 the wildest solitudes and the darkest recesses of mountain and 

 forest. 



1820 HlBERNICUS (DeWiTT Clinton). Letters on the natural history 



Clinton an( J internal resources of the state of New York. N. Y. Bliss and 



White. 1822. Pp. 144, 185-186, 198-210. 



These letters first appeared in the columns of a newspaper during the 

 year 1 820. They contain much of scientific interest, for the author was 

 a keen observer and had a well-trained mind. 



Western Region, August 1820. 

 I found the upper and middle stratum of the great cataract of 

 Niagara to consist of fetid carbonate of lime, commonly called 

 stink stone, or swine stone ; and the inferior stratum of a compact, 

 stratified red sand stone, which strikes fire with steel, scratches 

 glass, and which, when moistened and rubbed, emits a smell of 

 sulphuretted hydrogen gas. It is also infusible before the blow 

 pipe, and does not effervesce with acids. The super strata, con- 

 sisting of swine stone, are more strongly impregnated with sul- 

 phuretted hydrogen gas, and contain small quantities of martial 

 pyrites, alumine and silica. This stone exists in various parts of 

 this region, and is an indication of coal, so far forth as bitumen 

 is concerned in its composition. 



444 



