114 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA ? 
and when the wind is in a favourable point to 
convey the sound towards the listener ; the day 
on which we first approached the falls was 
thick and cloudy. 
On that .part of the road leading to Lake 
Erie, which draws nearest to the falls, there is 
a small village, consisting of about half a dozen 
straggling houses : here we alighted, and hav¬ 
ing disposed of our horses, and made a slight 
repast, in order to prepare us for the fatigue 
we had to go through, we crossed over some 
fields towards a deep hollow place surrounded 
with large trees, from the bottom of which 
issued thick volumes of whitish mist, that had 
much the appearance of smoke rising from 
large heaps of burning weeds. Having come 
to the edge of this hollow place, we descended 
a steep bank of about fifty yards, and then walk¬ 
ing for some distance over a wet marshy piece 
of ground, covered with thick bushes, at last 
came to the Table Hock, so called from the re¬ 
markable flatness of its surface, and its bearing 
some similitude to a table. This rock is situat¬ 
ed a little to the front of the great fall, above 
the top of which it is elevated above forty feet. 
The view from it is truly sublime ; 'but before I 
attempt to give any idea of the nature of this 
view, it will be necessary to take a more gene¬ 
ral survey of the river and falls. 
Niagara River issues from the eastern estre- 
