Niagara Falls 



1824 began my wanderings. Left next morning for the Falls of 

 Niagara; the country is poor, the soil stiff white clay, and the 

 people are lank and sallow. Arrived at the hotel, found but 

 few visitors, recorded my name, and wrote under it, " who like 

 Wilson, will ramble, but never, like that great man, die under the 

 lash of a bookseller." 



All trembling I reached the Falls of Niagara, and oh, what 

 a scene! my blood shudders still, although I am not a coward, 

 at the grandeur of the Creator's power; and I gazed motionless 

 on this new display of the irresistible force of one of His elements. 

 The falls, the rainbow, the rapids, and the surroundings all unite 

 to strike the senses with awe; they defy description with pen or 

 pencil ; and a view satisfied me that Niagara never had been and 

 never will be painted. I moved towards the rapids, over which 

 there is a bridge to Goat island, that I would like to have crossed, 

 to look on the water which was rushing with indescribable swift- 

 ness below, but was deterred from the low state of my funds. 

 Walking along the edge of the stream for a few hundred yards, 

 the full effect of the whole grand rush of the water was before me. 

 The color of the water was a verdigris green, and contrasted 

 remarkably with the falling torrent. The mist of the spray 

 mounted to the clouds, while the roaring below sounded like con- 

 stant heavy thunder, making me think at times that the earth was 

 shaking also. 



From this point I could see three-quarters of a mile down the 

 river, which appeared quite calm. I descended a flight of about 

 seventy steps, and walked and crouched on my hams along a 

 rugged, slippery path to the edge of the river, where a man and 

 skiff are always waiting to take visitors to the opposite shore. I 

 approached as near the falling water as I could, without losing 

 sight of the objects behind me. In a few moments my clothes 

 were wet. I retired a few hundred yards to admire two beautiful 

 rainbows, which seemed to surround me, and also looked as if 

 spanning obliquely from the American to the Canadian shore. 

 Visitors can walk under the falling sheet of water, and see 



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