Niagara Falls 



1870 molten glass. Above the falls the scene is quite different. A 

 wide and peaceful river carrying the surplus waters of an inland 

 sea, till it gradually finds itself in the coils of the rapids, and is 

 soon lashed into such a turmoil as we might expect if a dozen 

 unpolluted Shannons or Seines were running a race together. A 

 river no more, but a sea unreined. By walking about a mile above 

 the falls on the Canadian shore this effect is finely seen, the 

 breadth of the river helping to carry out the illusion. As the great 

 waste of water descends from its dark gray and smooth bed and 

 falls whitening into foam, it seems as if tide after tide were gale- 

 heaped one on another on a sea strand. The islands just above 

 the falls enable one to stand in the midst of these rapids, where 

 they rush by lashed into passionate haste ; now boiling over some 

 hidden swellings in the rocky bed, or dashing over greater but yet 

 hidden obstructions with such force that the crest of the uplifted 

 mass is dashed about as freely as a white charger's mane; now 

 darkly falling into a cavity several yards below the level of the 

 surrounding water, and, when unobstructed, surging by in count- 

 less eddies to the mist-crested falls below; and so rapidly that 

 the driftwood dashes on swift as swallow on the wing. Undis- 

 turbed in their peaceful shadiness, garlanded with wild vine and 

 wild flowers, the islands stand in the midst of all this fierce com- 

 motion of waters — below, the vast ever-mining falls; above, a 

 complication of torrents that seem fitted to wear away iron shores ; 

 yet there they stand, safe as if the spirit of beauty had in mercy 

 exempted them from decay. Several islets are so small that it is 

 really remarkable how they support vegetation; one, looking no 

 bigger than a washing-tub, not only holds its own in the very 

 thick of the torrents above the falls, but actually bears a small 

 forest, including one stricken and half cast-down pine. Most 

 fortunate is it that these beautifully verdant islands and islets 

 occur just above the falls, adding immeasurably to the effect of 

 the scene. 



462 



