Fall croffes it, not in a right line ; but form- 
ing almoft the figure of a femicircle or horfe 
fhoe. Above the Fall, in the middle of the 
river is an ifland, lying alfo S. S. E. and 
N. N. W. or parallel with the tides of the 
river ; its length is about 7 or 8 french arpents 
(an arpent being 180 feet.) the lower end of 
this Ifland is juft at the perpendicular edge of 
the Fall. On both tides of this ifland runs all 
the water that comes from the lakes of Canada , 
viz. Lake Superior , lake Mifchigan , lake 
Huron , and lake Erie , which you know are 
rather fmall feas than lakes, and have betides 
a great many large rivers that empty their 
water in them, of which the greateft part comer 
down this Niagara Fall. Before the wates 
comes to this ifland, it runs but flowly, com- 
par’d with its motion when it approaches 
the ifland, where it grows the moft rapid 
water in the World, running with a ’furprizing 
fwiftnefs before it comes to the Fall ; it is 
quite white, and in many places is thrown 
high up into the air ! The greateft and ftrongeft 
battoes would here in a moment be turn’d 
over and over. The water that goes down on 
the weft fide of the ifland, is more rapid, in 
greater abundance, whiter, and feems almoft 
to outdo an arrow in fwiftnefs. When you are 
at the Fall, and look up the river, you may 
fee, that the river above the Fall is every 
where exceeding fteep, almoft as the fide of a 
M 2 hill 
