1859.] NIAGARA, 181 



on no account to do the Falls, even if he left them undone. 

 When he had visited Snowdon, he found that he could over- 

 come the overwhelming sense of awe with the pencil ; so he 

 prolonged his way to the Falls with sketching, and calmed the 

 excitement of desire. The water of the Niagara is usually of 

 a most beautiful colour, but it was then turbid after a thaw. 

 He was surprised, as he walked, to look down on a muddy 

 stream about the width of the Bristol Avon at high water. He 

 was impressed at first by the beauty, rather than by the awful- 

 ness, of the Falls. Owing to the cold, the spray was con- 

 densed, and did not rise to any height: he had expected an 

 awful roar, but was surprised to find that he heard the gulls 

 cawing to each other, as they flapped the very foam over the 

 Falls. Few travellers could have gained a fuller conception of 

 the scene : he was alone, and devoted himself to its exami- 

 nation from every point of view. His scientific knowledge, his 

 intense love of nature, and his close observation of it, make 

 his descriptive letters very vivid and interesting : they are 

 far too long to be inserted here, and (at the time) he desired 

 that they should not be published. Some of his experiences 

 were unusual, as few travellers go behind the Falls in the 

 winter. He met a guide who was looking for spars, among 

 portions of a rock that had just fallen ; and followed him 

 through a channel of broken ice, till he found that he was 

 inside Niagara. " I looked up. I almost shudder to recall the 

 grand magnificence. Above me rose in tiers, each one pro- 

 jecting over the last, the rocky foundations which support that 

 mighty river ; below me went down to the abyss the deep mass 

 of loose broken stones ; and here I was in the angle formed 

 between the two ! In front was the truly awful cataract, as 

 much below me as above ; and how much below that, the 

 foaming abyss alone can tell. Inside, as out, the volumes of 

 cloud were rising up, but leaving the principal part of the 

 cave quite clear, so that you could see each separate beauty 

 of the Fall. Add to the solemn effect an unearthly, sulphurous 

 smell. I hope you will not think it too presumptuous ; but 

 to relieve my mind I deliberately planted my knees against the 



