242 
NIAGARA. 
of water into which it falls, and the velocity of the current is 
so much reduced, that the disturbance of the surface is but 
little felt at three-quarters of a mile distance from the foot of 
the fall, and a small ferry boat is able to cross safely at that 
point from bank to bank. When in the middle of the stream 
this ferry boat affords the opportunity of a remarkably grand 
and comprehensive view of the entire cataract. 
The entire width of the water in the cataract is about 
three-quarters of a mile, but the stream below rapidly narrows 
to less then a quarter of a mile, and then enters a steep 
contracted descent, where it falls 100 feet in a distance of 
seven miles. The greater portion of this fall is in the first 
two miles, where the stream is narrowed to only 220 feet 
width, forming the Whirlpool Rapids; the violent rush of 
the enormous mass of water through this contracted gorge, 
which is only one-fifteenth of the original width at the edge of 
the cataract, causes great surface-waves that dash together and 
throw up spray to a height of twenty and thirty feet. The 
direction of the stream is then suddenly turned nearly at a 
right angle, forming a great eddy at the bend, which is the 
celebrated Whirlpool. During the whole of this seven miles 
course below the cataract, the stream is confined between 
steep lofty cliffs 200 feet in height above the water ; but 
these cease suddenly at Queenston, and the remainder of 
the course is a quiet open stream on to Lake Ontario. 
The cataract is divided into two unequal portions 
by a large island, Goat Island, of about a quarter of a 
mile in width, and three-quarters of a mile in length, 
standing between them ; the larger cataract is the Horse¬ 
shoe or Canadian Fall, which is nearly half a mile width 
along the curved edge of the fall, and the American Fall on 
the other side of Goat Island is nearly a quarter of a mile in 
width. In addition, there is the small Centre Fall, about 
70 feet in width, separated by a small rocky island, Luna 
Island, from the American Fall. The greatest depth of water 
in the falling stream is in the centre of the great Horse-shoe 
Fall, and the thickness of the stream at the edge is as much 
as twenty feet at that part; in the other falls the thickness 
of the sheet of water is probably from two-thirds to one-third 
of that amount. A trial of the depth of water over the 
Horse-shoe Fall was once made by allowing an old ship to be 
carried over it, which drew eighteen feet of water (the 
“ Michigan ” in 1827), and was found to pass over clear. 
In these Falls there is an open space forming a cave 
excavated behind the cataract and extending, probably, 
the entire length of each fall. This arises from the 
