39 



largest of which is seven miles in length. The 

 current is impetuous, and being broken in 

 many places by the uneven rocky bottom, is 

 very much agitated : the banks on each side of 

 the river are almost perpendicular, and con- 

 siderably m.ore than one hundred yards high. 

 On the western side the road passes along its 

 summit, and delights the traveller with many 

 interesting views both of the river and the 

 country, which is thickly inhabited and under 

 excellent culture. Here also his mind will be 

 lost in wonder at viewing the stupendous Falls 

 of Niagara, unquestionably one of the most ex- 

 traordinary spectacles in nature, that presents 

 to the imagination as powerful a combination 

 of sublimity and grandeur, magnificence and 

 terror, as it can well experience. Any descrip- 

 tion, however animated, whether pourtrayed 

 by the glowing pencil of art, guided by the 

 liveliest fancy, or flowing from the most elo- 

 quent pen that embellishes the page of nar- 

 rative, would, most probably, fall short of doing 

 adequate justice to the reality. The attempt, 

 however, has been so frequently made, and in 

 some few instances with tolerable success, as 

 to conveying an idea of its immensity, that 

 " a description of the falls of Niagara" has be- 

 come familiar to almost every general reader. 

 Tor this reason, and also because in any new 



