MINNEHAHA. 



219 



and have a very broad gelatinous foot. Presently I found a 

 stratum of said mud, in which they abounded. I went on 

 and on, collecting these creatures, thinking from hunger that 

 it must be getting towards breakfast-time, when Mr. J. [his 

 landlord] appeared with his team to rescue my body : his wife 

 having moved him thereto, several persons having been 

 drowned ; and the hot night made her ladyship, as well as me, 

 dream uncomfortably, and as I had been two hours away, it 

 was settled that I had been drowned by the current." After 

 breakfast he bought some more shells. " While I was packing 

 them as close as I could fit them, a very heavy load to carry 

 on a hot day, sundry people came to see the Englishman who 

 did not come to buy land, and concerned himself with shells 

 and flowers. Among them a Philadelphian young man, evi- 

 dently well educated, but with the usual Western appearance 

 and manners. He talked learnedly on scientific matters : — No 

 one here cared for such things : had not time, etc. To whom 

 I said that it appeared to me that the people had plenty of 

 time for anything, from the way they lounged about smoking, 

 etc. ; and that all that was wanting was the taste and the will : 

 soon after which he and his cigar decamped. I paid my dollar, 

 shouldered my box and satchel, and was off to Minnehaha, 

 five miles across the prairie, but my load and the heat made it 

 ten. I got there, however, about one o'clock. 



" You cross a beautiful little river, narrow and pretty deep, 

 rushing hastily on over its stony bed, turn to the left, and 

 find yourself at the top of the Fall. It is about the size of one 

 of the Rideau Falls at Ottawa. After running through the open 

 rolling prairie, w T ith nothing to show that there is anything 

 beautiful near, it suddenly comes to a ledge of rock, and falls 

 over into a deep, narrow wooded ravine. There is a little house 

 of refreshment, and a muddy path and a strong wooden bridge 

 below the Fall. It was beautiful to stand on the top, and to 

 see the body of water, narrow and deep, suddenly rush to the 

 edge and lose itself ; but far more beautiful to see it below, as 

 it suddenly expands out again into the most beautiful expanse 

 of diamond-drops you ever saw. No name could be more 



