Niagara Falls 



1834 ferry house v and according to the observations I had an oppor- 

 er tunity of making, when I swam in the river immediately below 



the Falls. . . . 



From the accompanying croquis you will perceive, that, by 

 the different sweeps of the water, a much greater quantity rolls 

 over the straight line of which I have just spoken, and which 

 occupies less than a third of the Crescent Fall. The most 

 beautiful part of the finest of the cataracts is owing to this cir- 

 cumstance. This immense thick mass of water remains unbroken 

 down to the middle of the Falls, and the colour being of a fine 

 emerald hue, it produces one dense and deep sheet or mass of 

 uncommonly beautiful colour. On the one side is the pointed 

 angle which gives the very picture of irresistible ingulfing, and 

 on each side a large white foamy sheet, like large borders to the 

 green central piece. This emerald part has such a compound 

 character of compactness, united with a transparent crystal 

 elegance, it rolls over the crest so majestically, and has, with all 

 its velocity, such an appearance of steadiness, owing to its thick- 

 ness and density, and yet the swelling lines on its surface, as it 

 rolls over and descends, form such a graceful contrast with the 

 turmoil and uproar close at hand, that there is nothing in the 

 world to which I can possibly compare it : I have never seen any 

 thing similar, even on a smaller scale — never before, majesty and 

 grace thus blended. Some of the best views of this part are from 

 the window of Biddle Staircase, by which you descend from 

 Goat Island to the river below, — from the middle of the river 

 when you cross in the ferry, — and from Table Rock, a rock 

 which, in the form of a plate, projects and forms a precipice close 

 to the north-eastern end of the Crescent. It is a hundred and 

 sixty-three feet from the depth, and it projects so much, that when 

 you look down, — lying, of course, flat on the ground, as every 

 experienced traveller does in such cases, — to enjoy a precipice, 

 you can see not only perpendicularly down, but even under the 

 rock. To your right you have the Crescent Fall, and you may 

 see the upper part of the emerald sheet to more advantage from 



534 



