[ S 4 ] 
hill. When all this water comes to the yery 
Fall, there it throws itfelf down perpen- 
dicular! It is beyond all belief the furprize 
when you fee this ! I cannot with words 
exprefs how amazing it is ! You cannot fee 
it without being quite terrified ; to behold 
fo vaft a quantity of water falling headlong 
from a furprifing height ! I doubt not 
but you have a defire to learn the exadl 
height of this great Fall. Father Hennepin , 
fuppofes it 600 Feet perpendicular ; but 
he has gained little credit in Canada ; the 
name of honour they give him there, is un 
grand Menteur , or The g? eat Liar\ he writes 
of what he faw in places where he never was. 
’tis true he faw this Fall .* but as it is the way 
of fome travellers to magnify every thing, fo 
has he done with regard to the fall of Nia- 
gara. This humour of travellers, has occa- 
fioned me many difappointments in my tra- 
vels, having feldom been fo happy as to find 
the wonderful things that had been related by 
others. For my part, who am not fond of 
the Marvellous , I like to fee things juft as 
they are, and fo to relate them. Since Father 
Hennepin 1 s time, this Fall by all the accounts 
that have been given of it, has grown lefs and 
lefs ; and thofe who have meafur’d it with 
mathematical inftruments find the perpendi- 
cular fall of the water to be exactly 137 feet. 
Monfr. Morandrier , the king’s engineer in 
Canada } 
