152 An Hiftorical Journal of 



ferve to them, that her pretended "Genius had promiféd her % 

 perfe(5l Cure, and had not kept his Word. They replied, that 

 in fuch a great Number of Things commanded, it was very 

 difficult not to have omitted one. He expeded that they would 

 have iniilled principally on the Refufal of the Coverlet ; and in 

 Faél they did juft mention it ; but they added, that after 

 this Refufal the Genius appeared to the lick^'Woman, and afTured 

 her that this Incident Ihould not do her any Prejudice, be- 

 caufe as the French were not the natural Inhabitants of the 

 Country, the Genii had no Power over them. But to re- 

 turn to my Journey. 



When our Officers went away, I afcended thofe frightful 

 D 7* ^f>f' ■ f Mountains I fpoke of, to go to the famous 

 the Fall of ^^iL Niagara, above which I was to em- 



^ bark. This Journey is three Leagues : It 



^ * ^ was formerly five, becaufe they pafTed to the 



other Side of the River ; that is to fay, to the Weft, and they 

 did not re-embark but at two Leagues above the Fall : But they 

 have found on the Left, about half a Mile from this Cataraél, a 

 Bay where the Current is not perceiveable, and of Confequence 

 where one may embark without Danger. My firft Care, at my Ar- 

 rival, was to vifit the fineft Cafcade perhaps in the World ; but I 

 dire6lly found the Baron ^le la Hontan was miftaken, both as to its 

 Height and its Form, in fuch a Manner as to make me think he 

 had never feen it. It is certain that if we meafure its Height 

 by the three Mountains which we muft firft pafs over, there is 

 not much to bate of the fix hundred Feet which the Map of M. 

 Delijle gives it ; who, v/ithout Doubt, did not advance this Pa- 

 radox, but on the Credit of Baron de la Hontan and Father Hen- 

 nepin. But after I arrived at the Top of the third Mountain, I 

 obfervedthat in the Space of the three Leagues, which I travelled 

 afterwards to this Fall of Water, tho' we muft fometimes afcend, 

 we defcended ftiil more ; and this is what thefe Travellers 

 do not feem to have well confidered. As we cannot approach 

 the Cafcade but by the Side, nor fee it but in Profile, it is not 

 eafy to meafure it with Inftruments : We tried to do it with a 

 long Cord fattened to a Pole ; and after we had often tried this 

 Way, we found the Depth but one hundred and fifteen, or one 

 hundred and twenty Feet: But we could not be furethat the Pole 

 was not ftopped by fome Reck which juts out ; for although 

 it was always drawn up v/et, as alfo the End of the Cord to 

 which it was fattened, this proves nothing, becaufe the Water 

 which falls from the Mountain rebounds very high in a Foam. 

 As for myfelf, after I had viewed it from all the Places vyhere 

 one may examine it mott eafily, I judged one could not give it 

 lefs than one hundred and forty, or one hundred an4 fifty Feet. 



As 



