$34 



NEW YORK. 



they meet with from the hidden rocks, by ridges and streaks of foam. Terminating this angry pic- 

 ture, you distinguish the crescent rim of the British fall, over which the torrent pours and dis- 

 appears. The wildness and the solitude of the scene are strikingly impressive. Nothing that 

 lives is to be seen in its whole extent. Nothing that values its lile ever dares venture it there. 

 The waters refuse the burden of man and of man's works. Of this they give fair and audible 

 warning, of which all take heed. They have one engrossing object before them, and they go to 

 its accomplishment alone. 



" Returning to the road, we ride the last half mile, ascending gradually till we come to the 

 public house. A footpath through the garden at the back of the house, and down a steep and 

 thickly wooded bank, brings us upon Table Rock, a flat ledge of limestone, forming the brink 

 of the precipice, the upper stratum of which is a jagged shelf no more than about a foot in 

 thickness, jutting out over the gulf below. Here the whole scene breaks upon us. Looking 

 up the river we face the grand crescent, called the British or Horseshoe Fall.* Opposite to us 

 is Goat Island, which divides the falls, and lower down to the left is the American Fall. And 

 what is the first impression made upon the beholder Decidedly, I should say, that of beauty ; of 

 sovereign, majestic beauty it is true, but still that of beauty, soul-filling beauty, rather than awful 

 sublimity. Every thing is on so large a scale ; the height of the cataract is so much exceeded 

 by its breadth, and so much concealed by the volumes of mist which wrap and shroud its feet ; 

 you stand so directly on the same level with the falling waters ; you see so large a portion of 

 them at a considerable distance from you ; and their roar comes up so moderated from the deep 

 abyss, that the loveliness of the scene at first sight is permitted to take precedence of its gran- 

 deur. Its coloring alone is of the most exquisite kind. The deep sea-green of the centre 

 of the crescent, where it is probable the greatest mass of water falls, lit up with successive 

 flashes of foam, and contrasted with the rich, creamy whiteness of the two sides or wings of the 

 same crescent ; then the sober gray of the opposite precipice of Goat Island, crowned with 

 the luxuriant foliage of its forest trees, and connected still further on with the pouring snows 

 of the greater and less American Falls ; the agitated and foamy surface of the waters at the 

 bottom of the falls, followed by the darkness of their hue as they sweep along through the per- 

 pendicular gorge beyond ; the mist, floating about, and veiling objects with a softening indis- 

 tinctness ; and the bright rainbow which is constant to the sun, ■ — altogether form a combina- 

 tion of color, changing too with every change of light, every variation of the wind, and every 

 hour of the day, which the painter's art cannot imitate, and which nature herself has perhaps 

 only effected here. 



" And the motion of these falls, how wonderfully fine it is ! how graceful, how stately, how 

 calm ! There is nothing in it hurried or headlong, as you might have supposed. The eye is 

 so long in measuring the vast and yet unacknowledged height, that they seem to move over 

 almost slowly ; the central and most voluminous portion of the Horseshoe even goes down 

 silently. The truth is, that pompous phrases cannot describe these falls. Calm and deeply- 

 meaning words should alone be used in speaking of them. Any thing like hyperbole would 

 degrade them, if they could be degraded. But they cannot be. Neither the words nor the 

 deeds of man degrade or disturb them. There they pour over in their collected might and 

 dignified flowing, steadily, constantly, as they always have been pouring since they came from 

 the hollow of His hand, and you can add nothing to them, nor can you take any thing from 

 them. 



" As I rose on the morning following my arrival, and went to the window for an early view, 

 a singular fear came over me, that the falls might have passed away, though their sound was in 

 my ears. It was to be sure, rather the shadow of a fear than a fear, and reason dissipated it 

 as soon as it was formed. But the bright things of earth are so apt to be fleeting, and we are 

 so liable to lose what is valued as soon as it is bestowed, that I believe it was a perfectly natural 

 feeling which suggested to me for an instant, that I had enjoyed quite as much of such a glorious 

 exhibition as I deserved, and that I had no right to expect that it would continue, as long as I 

 might be pleased to behold. But the falls were there, with their full, regular, and beautiful 

 flowing. The clouds of spray and mist were now dense and high, and completely concealed 

 the opposite shores ; but as the day advanced, and the beams of the sun increased in power, 

 they were thinned and contracted. Presently a thunder-shower rose up from the west, and 

 passed directly over us ; and soon another came, still heavier than the preceding. And now 

 I was more impressed than ever with the peculiar motion of the fall ; not, however, because it 



* The height of the Horseshoe Fall is 1.50 feet : its breadth 2,376 feet. 



