Science, Geology and Physics 



The banks of the strait are as low as the Falls; from this 1834 

 point the water flows in a deep ravine with rocky walls as high Ie er 

 as three hundred and seventy feet, which gradually lower near 

 Lake Ontario. It is this sudden change of the bed which pro- 

 duces the Falls. Immediately below them these stupendous 

 walls, sometimes perpendicular, sometimes with beetling rocks, 

 and defying with very few exceptions the best crags-man, are 

 about three hundred feet high. The distance between the two 

 landing-places of the ferries, nearly a mile below the Falls, is 

 about seventy-six rods. You have then the depth and width of 

 this ravine: its rugged sides are adorned and crested with shrubs 

 and trees. They run nearly parallel; at the beginning or 

 upper end of the ravine, they join in a curve. Over this curve of 

 the ravine rolls the Niagara in three distinct Falls, divided from 

 each other by two islands enthroned on the edge of the ravine. 

 One of them, Goat Island, the largest of a group of three, is 

 quite at the end of the south-eastern side of the ravine, leaving on 

 its western side or end only the closing curve, over which the 

 largest of the cataracts, the Crescent Fall, flows into the deep 

 abyss below. On the northern side of Goat Island, and between 

 it and the small Prospect Island, is the Central Fall. To the 

 north of the latter island, again, is the Schlosser Fall. The bend 

 of Niagara is so peculiar, that it requires some exertion of your 

 mind to arrive at a clear perception of the four cardinal points 

 in relation to the cataract. You ought, however, to represent 

 clearly to yourself the precise situation of the Falls and their 

 bends. 



• • • • • 



Goat Island contains about sixty acres, and, for a variety of 

 reasons, is a most charming spot. Prospect Island is very small : 

 I have written it down on the tablet of my memory as Isola 

 Preziosa; and a precious isle it is. It lies on the brink of the 

 lofty battlement between the two Falls on the United States 

 side, like a jutting watch-tower, placed there for the purpose of 

 affording the finest prospect of the Schlosser Fall. There is one 

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