Niagara Falls 



1831 



Feather- 

 stonehaugh 



1832 



Bouchette 



thirty thousand years. That the recession of these falls is 

 affected as Mr. Lyell supposes, we have never doubted; but a 

 long and familiar acquaintance with the cataract, has induced 

 us to adopt the opinion we have just seen announced by the Rev. 

 W. D. Conybeare, (Annals of Philosophy, No. 52. April, 

 1831. Page 267), that in forming the first estimates of this 

 computation " some partial degradation of the strata has here 

 been mistaken for the general retrogradation." 



He especially controverted Mr. James Geddes. 



Made certain general observations on the ancient drainage of 

 N. A., and applied the operating principle to the origin of the 

 cataract of Niagara. 



1832 



BOUCHETTE, JOSEPH. The British dominions in North America; 

 or a topographical and statistical description of the provinces of Lower 

 and Upper Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the islands of New- 

 foundland, Prince Edward and Cape Breton, including considerations 

 on land-granting and emigration. . . . Lond. : Longman, Rees, Orme, 

 Brown, Green, and Longman. 1 832. 1 : 1 38—1 47. 



On page 144 and 145 is found a description of the sound of the Falls 

 which is quoted below. 



The noise of the Falls is truly grand, commanding, and 

 majestic; filling the vault of heaven when heard in its fulness, 

 and seeming mystically to impregnate ether with its absorbing 

 sounds. It is very variable in its loudness, being essentially 

 influenced by the state of the atmosphere, the direction of the 

 wind, and the position of the listener. It is sometimes scarcely 

 audible within three or four miles ; and at others it may be heard 

 at York, on the opposite shores of Lake Ontario, a distance of six- 

 and-forty miles. The relative situation of York with the mouth 

 of the Niagara river favours the travelling of the sound thus far 

 when the air is remarkably still, or acted upon by south-easterly 

 winds. 



It were difficult to convey a very distinct idea of the deep 

 round roar of Niagara; indeed there is a sono-ous cadence in 



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