176 MEMOIR OF DR. HARVEY. 



there by wooden ladders, and conducts you to the first, second, 

 and third falls, the middle being the grandest and most 

 picturesque. When the river is full, the din and foam must 

 be magnificent. The rock is a decaying limestone in thin slate- 

 like strata, and full of petrifactions; the strata remarkably 

 horizontal. I picked up some fresh-water shells in the stream, 

 very fine Phyca. The woods are full of pretty aster, golden- 

 rods, grass of Parnassus, &c. At supper we had deliciously pure, 

 well flavoured, very white honey, and a great variety of cakes, 

 on which I made my dinner. I had had, in the middle of the 

 day, a cup of coffee and queen cake, and a slice of cold custard- 

 p lidding, which, with my tea, had supported me since breakfast- 

 time. I did not care to stop at Utica for dinner, and it was all over 

 when I got here. The custom of the country is to have stated 

 hours at which all eat, and if you arrive late, you wait. I have 

 not yet seen any rapid eating, and have always had plenty of time. 

 The stories about spitting were either much exaggerated, or the 

 practice is going out. I see and hear it now and then, but less 

 than I expected. I was rather annoyed on the railroad to-day 

 by the man behind me leaning on the back of my seat and 

 occasionally bringing his elbow between my shoulders, merely 

 from fidgeting, and with seeming unwillingness. Having now 

 been seventeen hours energising, I shall say good-night, and go 

 to bed. I am quite well and gaily." 



Niagara Falls, September 16th, 1849. 

 Sunday evening. 



I was glad to get off from Trenton yesterday, by a country 

 stage which brought me to Utica, in time to catch the train for 

 Buffalo — a large port for shipping on Lake Erie at the terminus 

 of the Erie Canal. The many towns which we passed on our 

 route, almost all looking fresh, and several large and flourishing, 

 had a precious jumble of names : Borne, Verona, Chittenango, 

 and Syracuse, Camillus, Auburn (famous for the State prison), 

 Aurelius, Cayuga, Waterloo, Eochester, Geneva, Vienna, Ca- 

 nandagua, Fredonia, Victor, New Chili, Byron, &c, &c, and 

 any other route in the neighbourhood would be as rich. Lake 

 Erie is exactly like the sea, with a pebbly beach and waves 

 breaking on it, an expanse of dark-blue clear water, and no land 

 in sight at the opposite side. The illusion was strengthened 



