Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Getty Research Institute https://archive.org/details/descriptionofvie00burf_22 ®HI(gKI!P ) TO©IN! OF A VIEW OF THE FALLS OF NIAGARA, AT THE PANORAMA, LEICESTER SQUARE. PAINTED BY THE PROPRIETOR, ROBERT BURFORD, FROM DRAWINGS TAKEN BY HIM IN THE AUTUMN OF 1832. LONDON: PRINTED BY T. BRETTELL, RUPERT STREET, HAYMARKET. 1834 . A VIEW OF THE NORTH POLE IS NOW OPEN. THE FALLS OF NIAGARA “ The roar of waters! from the headlong height -cleaves the wave-worn precipice; The fall of waters! rapid as the light, The flashing mass loams, shaking the abyss; The hell of waters ! where they howl, and hiss, And boil in endless torture; while the sweat Of their great agony, wrung out from this Their Phlegethon, curls round the rocks of jet That gird the gulf around, in pitiless horror set, “ And mounts in spray the skies, and thence again Returns in an unceasing shower, which round With its unemptied cloud of gentle rain Is an eternal April to the ground, Making it all one emerald: how profound The gulf! and how the giant element, From rock to rock leaps with delirious bound, Crushing the cliffs, which, downward worn and rent With his fierce footsteps, yield in chasms a fearful vent. “ Horribly beautiful! but on the verge, From side to side, beneath the glittering morn, An Iris sits, amidst the infernal surge, Like hope upon a death-bed, and, unworn Its steady dyes, while all around is torn By the distracted waters, bears serene Its brilliant hues with all their beams unshorne : Resembling, ’mid the torture of the scene, Love watching Madness with unalterable mien.” Byron. The Falls of Niagara are justly considered one of the greatest natural curiosities in the known world ; they are without parallel, and exceed immeasurably all of the same kind that have ever been seen or imagined ; travellers speak of them in terms of admiration and delight, and acknow¬ ledge that they surpass in sublimity every description which the power of language can afford; a Panorama# alone offers a scale of sufficient * Captain Basil Hall says, “ All parts of the Niagara are on a scale which baffles every attempt of the imagination, and it were ridiculous therefore to think of describing it; the ordinary means of description, I mean analogy, and direct comparison, with things which are more accessible, fail entirely in the case of that amazing cataract, which is altogether unique; yet a great deal, I am certain, might be done by a well- executed Panorama; an artist well versed in this peculiar sort of painting, might produce a picture which would probably distance every thing else of the kind.”— “ The task must be done by a person who shall go to the spot for the express purpose, making the actual drawings, which he himself is afterwards to convert into a panorama, 4 magnitude to exhibit at one view (which is indispensable) the various parts of this wonderful scene, and to convey an adequate idea of the matchless extent, prodigious power, and awful appearance, of this stu¬ pendous phenomenon of nature; but the scene itself must be visited, to comprehend the feeling it produces, and to appreciate the petrifying influence of the tremendous rush of water, the boiling of the mighty flood, and the deep and unceasing roar of the tumultuous abyss: “ it strikes upon the soul a sense of majestic grandeur, which loss of life or intellect can alone obliterate.” The drawings for the present panorama were taken near the Table Rock, a commanding situation, affording the most comprehensive, and, at the same time, the finest view of this imposing scene. Immediately in front of the spectator are the falls in simple and sublime dignity, an ocean of waters three qnarters of a mile in width, precipitated with astonishing grandeur in three distinct and collateral streams down a stupendous precipice upwards of 150 feet in height, on the rocks below, from which they rebound, converted by the violence of the concussion, into a broad sheet of foam as white as snow ; pyramidical clouds of vapour or spray rise majestically in misty grandeur from the abyss, sparkling here and there with prismatic colours, and a rainbow of extraordinary beauty, and peculiar brilliancy, heightens the scene, by spanning the great fall. Above are seen the agitated billows, and white-crested breakers of the rapids, tumultuously hurrying towards the precipice, bounded on the one side by the luxuriant foliage of Goat Island, and on the other by the fertile and thickly-wooded shores of Upper Canada. Below, the river winds in a stream, bright, clear, and remarkably green, between bold and rugged banks, richly coloured by both wood and rock ; the sur¬ rounding scenery, although it must be viewed with comparative indif¬ ference, whilst the mind is absorbed in contemplating the grandeur and extent of the cataract, is also in excellent keeping; stupendous and lofty banks, immense fragments of rock in fantastic forms, impenetrable woods approaching their very edge, the oak, ash, locusts, cedar, maple, and other forest trees of extraordinary growth and singular shape, the Cyprus, holly, pine, and various evergreens, brushwood peeping from the fissures, and beautiful creeping plants clinging to the perpendicular sides of the rocks, presenting a vast variety of foliage and diversity of hue, rendered still more pleasing by the first frosts of autumn having changed the leaves of some of the more tender to every shade of colour, from the brightest yellow to the deepest crimson, thus combining every thing that is essential to constitute the sublime, the terrific, and the picturesque. The Niagara, which forms the boundary line between the British possessions and the United States, is unlike most other rivers, being no larger at its mouth than at its source ; indeed, it can scarcely be, very strictly, considered a river at all, but rather a grand natural canal, by which the superabundant waters of Lake Erie are poured into Lake which, if well executed, could not fail to impart some portion of the pleasure com¬ municated by the reality.” Captain Hall having seen the painting in progress, has kindly expressed the following opinion :—“ The Panorama of Niagara, though not completed, is sufficiently advanced to enable any one who has seen it, to judge of the effect, and I have no hesitation in saying, you have accomplished a task which I hardly hoped to see executed ; I think your painting gives not only an exceedingly accurate but a most animated view of the falls.” Ontario; its length from lake to lake is 33 miles, its general course being northerly, and it varies in breadth from half a mile to two miles. In this distance the water sustains a fall of 322 feet, thus calculated—between Lake Erie and the Rapids, 15 feet; in the Rapids, 51 feet; at the fall, 150 feet; and the remainder before it reaches Lake Ontario. In the early part of its course the river is broad and tranquil, and presents a scene of the most profound repose, its waters being nearly level with its shores, and a beautiful island dividing it into two streams for a considerable distance. At Chippawa, about two miles above the falls, where the navigation ends, a considerable current is perceptible, and the glassy smoothness is disturbed by slight ripples; from this place the shores contract considerably, and the bed of the river begins to slope; the water shortly after becomes much agitated, and the magnificent rapids commence; rock after rock chafes the stream, which becomes perfectly white, and rushes with frightful velocity to the edge of the precipice, over which it plunges in an unexampled volume, with terrific impetuosity, being unquestionably the greatest mass of water that is poured down any fall, either in the new or old world—the quantity of water thus projected is computed to be not less than one hundred millions of tons per hour*. However great this quantity may seem, yet it is probably not over-rated ; for it must be remembered, that the four great lakes, which, from their size, might be more properly termed inland seas, with all the numerous and large rivers which flow into them, covering a surface of 150,000 square miles, and containing nearly one-half of the fresh water on the face of the globe, have only this one outlet for their superfluous waters. Lake Superior, the largest fresh-water lake in the world, 1152 miles in circumference, and on an average 900 feet in depth, and its surface 104S feet above the level of the sea ; Lake Huron, S12 miles; Lake Michigan, 713 ; and Lake Erie, 058 miles in circumference. The tremendous roar of this great body of water dashing on the rocks below, is of a most extraordinary description, difficult to explain, not altogether deafening; and although monotonous, it does not produce disagreeable sensations. Immediately after the fall the river subsides from this state of sublime agitation, and rolls in a smooth unruffled channel through a deep dell, bordered by rugged and perpendicular banks, as far as Queens¬ town, From Lake Erie to Queenstown, the face of the country presents a vast level plain, with the exception of the space between Chippawa and the falls, where, in about two miles, the ground rises 50 feet, and the river, as before mentioned, descends about as much more; at Queenstown this table land abruptly terminates, and sinks to a plain nearly level with Lake Ontario. Over this precipice, it is supposed, the river, in remote ages poured its waters and that its continued and violent action has gradually worn away the rocks, and carried back the falls to their present situation. A different opinion has been held, and much been written, to prove that the river flows through a natural ravine ; but the minute inspec¬ tion ofeminent geologists, of whose accuracy there can be no doubt, together with the evidence of persons who have had opportunities of observing the * Dr. Dwight calculates the river at the ferry, seven furlongs wide, and 25 feet deep, running never less than six miles per hour; the quantity ot water that passes in that time is consequently above 102 millions of tons avoirdupois. G gradual retrocession, afford the strongest presumption that the channel has been hewn by the river itself. Queenstown ridge consists of lower limestone shale, having carboniferous limestone superincumbent, with the common diluvium or superficial soil of the country above; through the whole length of the ravine, this geological arrangement is constant, the horizontal strata presenting precisely the same appearance on both its sides; at the falls the limestone rock is 70 feet in thickness, and the loose shale, which crumbles under the touch, about 80. By the violent blasts of wind, which arise from the abyss, and the continual action of the water, the shale is rapidly worn away, and the mass of limestone being left without a foundation, falls from time in enormous masses, particularly after severe frosts. Captain Basil Hall mentions a person who had resided at the falls for 36 years, who declared that they had receded within his memory 40 or 50 yards, which was corroborated by another, who had been in the neighbourhood for 40 years. Three immense portions broke from the Horse-shoe fall on the 9th of December, 1828, and tumbled into the abyss with a shock like an earthquake. It would be difficult to form a reasonable calculation as to the period which has elapsed since the water first began to open the gorge. Professor Lyell computes, that if the ratio of retrocession has never been exceeded, it must have required nearly 10,000 years for the excavation, and by the same calculation, it will require at least 30,000 to reach Lake Erie ; but it is probable that when the river was confined to a narrower channel, the operation was much quicker. The distance from Queenstown is nearly seven miles, the average breadth 1200 feet. Up to the period when Goat Island divided the fall, the whole force of the water was exerted on this surface; since that time the operative power of the water has been extended to nearly 3500 feet; this diminished action would necessarily be attended by a retardation in the retrocession of the cataract; the fail has also reached a point where the limestone beds thicken, and numerous layers of chert give additional strength and durability. A communication has recently been opened between the western lakes and the sea (by the St. Lawrance, and by the grand canal to New York), by a canal between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The Welland Canal commences at Port Maitland, near the mouth of the grand river, crosses Mainfleet Marsh in a straight line, passes the river Chippawa by means of a noble aqueduct, and enters Lake Ontario at Port Dalhousie. The work was commenced in 1824, and u'as completed in five years; it is 43 miles in length, 58 feet in width, and varies from 10 to 16 feet in depth ; it admits vessels of 125 tons burden ; the whole descent is 322 feet, which is accomplished by 37 locks. At Deepcut, parallel with the falls, 1,477,700 cubic feet of earth was removed ; and at Mountain Ridge, where the descent is made, 70,000 cubic yards of rock. The idea originated with Mr. W. H. Merritt, of St. Catherine’s, and the work was planned and accomplished, with the assistance of the British Government, by the Canada Land Company, at the expense of o^OCbOOO. Little was known of the Falls of Niagara previous to the commence¬ ment of the last century ; the Americans have a tradition that they were discovered by two of the earliest missionaries, Joseph Price and Henry Wilmington, who had received orders to penetrate into the interior, and who left Boston to visit the great lakes, of which they had heard vague reports from the Indians. The name is an Iroquois word, signifying “the 7 thunder of waters;” but it appears they were not aware of its existence until this period, having been deterred from approaching by a super¬ stitious dread of the tremendous roar. The immediate neighbourhood of the falls, and the banks of the river, have been the scenes of a succession of actions, attended with the horrors of civil war, between the British and American troops in 1812-13-14, particularly four desperate encounters in July, August, and September, of the latter year. EXPLANATION OF THE ENGRAVING 1.— Goat, or Iris Island. An island, about half a mile in length, inserted like a wedge between the falls, pre¬ senting its broadest end, which is about 980 feet, to the precipice; it is thickly covered with wood, and exhibits a variety of romantic scenery: a carriage road winds round it, from which various paths diverge to the most advantageous points for viewing the rapids and falls. It contains a sort of farm house, where refreshments of all kinds are provided, and several mills, also a pretty museum of natural history. A singular bridge or pier has been projected nearly 300 feet into the river, to what are called the Terrapin rocks, where a single piece of timber actually overhangs the edge of the great fall about 15 feet. Although the prodigious magnitude of the tumbling water is not so apparent as from below, yet from the extremity of this bridge, standing as it were in the very midst of the mighty flood, the scene is terrific and appalling, and cannot be viewed without astonishment and awe, not unmixed with fear. It is reported that this island was first visited during the Canadian war of 1755, by General Putnam, who, in consequence of a wager having been laid that no man in the army would dare to attempt a descent upon it, made a successful effort; he dropped down the river, from a considerable distance above, in a boat, strongly secured by ropes to the shore, by which means he was afterwards safely landed. A young Englishman, named Francis Abbot, of respectable connexions, either through misfortune or a morbid state of mind, which made him desire seclusion, took up his resi¬ dence on the island, and in the neighbourhood of the falls, for two years, and became so fascinated with the solitude, and infatuated with the scenery, that no inducement could divert his thoughts, or draw him from the spot, where he acquired the name of the “ Hermit of Niagara Falls.” He arrived on foot in June 1829, dressed in a loose gown or cloak of a chocolate colour, carrying under his arm a roll of blankets, a flute, a portfolio, and a large book, which constituted the whole of his baggage. He took up his abode, in the first instance, in the small inn of Ebenezer Kelly, on the American side, stipulating that the room he occupied should be exclusively his own, and that certain parts of his cooking only should be done by his host. Fie then repaired to the Library, where he gave his name, and bor¬ rowed some books and music books, and purchased a violin; the following day he again visited the Library, expatiated largely, with great ease and ability, on the beautiful scenery of the falls, and declared his intention of remaining at least a week; for “ a traveller might as well,” he said “ examine in detail the various museums and curiosities of Paris, as become acquainted with the splendid scenery of Niagara in the same space of time.” On a subsequent visit he declared bis intention of staying at least a month, perhaps six. Shortly after he determined on fixing his abode on Goat Island, and was desirous of erecting a hut, in which he might live quite secluded; the proprietor of the island not thinking proper to grant this request, he occupied a small room in the only house, being occasionally furnished with bread and milk by the family, but more generally providing and always cooking his own food. During the second winter of his seclusion, the family removed, and to the few persons with whom he held communication, he expressed great satisfaction at being able to live alone. For some time he enjoyed this seclusion; but another family having entered the house, he quitted the island, and built himself a small cottage on the main shore, about thirty rods from the great fall. On the 10th of June, 1831, he was seen to bathe twice, and was observed by the ferry-man to enter the water a third time about two o’clock in the afternoon; his clothes remaining for some hours where he had deposited them, an alarm was created, and an ineffectual search was made for him. On the 21st, his body was taken out of the river at Fort Niagara, and was decently interred in the burial ground near the Falls. When his cot was examined, his dog was found guarding the door, and was with difficulty removed ; his cat occupied his bed : his guitar, violin, Hutes, music books, and portfolio, were scattered around in confu- 9 sion, but not a single written paper of any kind was found (although he was known to com¬ pose much) to throw the least light on this extraordinary character. He was a person of highly-cultivated mind and manners, a master of languages, deeply read in the arts and sciences, and performed on various musical instruments with great taste ; his drawings were also very spirited. He had travelled over Europe and many parts of the East, and possessed great colloquial powers when inclined to be sociable ; but at times he would desire not to be spoken to, and communicated his wishes on a slate ; sometimes for three or four months together he would go unshaved, with no covering on his head, and his body enveloped in a blanket, shunning all, and seeking the deepest solitude—his age was not more than twenty-eight, his person well made, and his features handsome. Many spots on Goat Island are consecrated to his memory; at the upper end he established his walk, which became hard trod and well beaten ; between the island and Moss Island was his favourite retreat for bathing—here he resorted at all seasons of the year, even in the coldest weather, when ice was on the river; on the bridge to the Terra¬ pin Rocks, it was his daily practice to walk for hours, from one extremity to the other, with a quick pace ; sometimes he would let himself down at the end of the projecting timber, and hang under it by his hands and feet over the terrific precipice, for fifteen minutes at a time, and in the wildest hours of the night he was often found walking in the most dangerous places near the Falls. 2 .—Biddle Staircase. Constructed in the year 1829, at the expense of Nicholas Biddle, Esq. of Philadelphia, to facilitate the descent to the rocks below, where a magnificent and much-admired view of the Falls is obtained. The island is 185 feet above the gulf; the first 44 feet of the stair is cut in solid rock; the next 88 is a spiral wooden staircase, and the remainder, again, stone steps, in three directions over immense fragments of rock, which appear to have been broken off and tumbled from the ledge above. The construction of this descent has opened one of the finest fishing places in this part of the Union, the water being the resort of various fish, which come up from Lake Ontario and are stopped by the Falls. The notorious Sam Patch leaped from a ladder, 125 feet high, into the gulf at this place, in October 1829, and escaped unhurt. 3 .—Column of Vapour. The mighty clouds of vapour which are thrown up from the Horse-shoe Fall only, move with the wind, and descend in a misty shower like rain; they are seen from a great distance, appearing at Buffalo, which is twenty miles, like a pillar of smoke. When the sun and the position of the observer is favourable, they present a remarkably beautiful appearance, sparkling like diamonds, with occasional flashes of the most brilliant colours. 5.— Rapids. Before approaching the precipice over which the water is tumbled, the river sinks in little more than half a mile above 50 feet; the stratum of limestone which forms its bed, is also intersected with seams and patches of hard dark-coloured chert. Through this channel of rugged rocks the water rushes with terrific and ungovernable impetuosity, a fiercely raging torrent, converted by the resistance with which it meets into a broad expanse of foam as white as snow, bearing a strong resemblance to the breakers on a rocky shore during a gale. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood consider it as certain death to get once involved in the rapids; not only because escape from the cataracts would be hopeless, but because the force of the water amongst the rocks would dash the body to pieces before it approached them. Instances are on record of the melancholy fate of persons who have thus perished : one interesting and well-authenticated is of an Indian who had fallen asleep in his canoe, which, by accident or design, was unloosed from its moorings; when he awoke, he found his frail bark fast approaching the fall. Seeing that all his endeavours to paddle himself back would be unavailing, he composedly rolled himself in his blanket, and put the whiskey bottle for the last time to his lips; in a short time he went over the precipice, and no one ever heard of his remains or that of his canoe. In the summer of 1822 a similar fate befel two Americans, who were removing furniture from Goat Island; the wind was high and in the direction of the fall, the cur- 10 rent was consequently stronger than usual; the boat was carried down, and in a few moments dashed to pieces: several days after a table, the only relic ever discovered, was seen floating, apparently uninjured, on the river. The celebrated Chateaubriand narrowly escaped a similar fate ; he was viewing the fall from the bank of the river, having the bridle of his horse twisted round his arm: a rattle-snake stirred in the neighbouring bushes and startled the horse, who reared and ran backwards towards the abyss. Not being able to disengage his arm from the bridle, he was dragged after him ; the horse’s fore legs were off the ground, and squatting on the brink ol the precipice, he was upheld merely by the bridle, when, astonished by this new danger, he suddenly threw himself forward and sprung to a distance of ten feet, again dragging Chateaubriand with him, who was thus released from his perilous situation. C.— Horse-Shoe Fall. The British, or Horse-shoe fall, as it is more generally termed, from the precipice having been worn by the water into somewhat that form, is 150 feet in perpendicular height; in consequence of its shape the water converges to the centre, and descends in a solid mass at least 12 feet in thickness, being driven forward with an impetus that hurls it into the gulf below, 50 feet from the base of the rock; for nearly two-thirds of its de¬ scent, the water in the centre falls in one vast unbroken mass, smooth and unruffled, and of a beautiful green colour ; the remainder is hidden by the vast body of vapour, ascending from the abyss; the whole surface of the river appears a body of foam differing essentially from any thing of the kind produced in a similar way, the bubbles of which it is universally composed are extremely small, are always ascending by millions, and spread over the water in one continued and apparently solid mass. Capt. Hall men¬ tions, that the water is also projected upwards, sometimes to the height of 120 feet, by the force of the air below, in an immense number of small white cones, with pointed heads, their tails varying from one to 12 yards, stretching in every direction, which may be seen continually starting from the cloud of spray; during the afternoon a splendid rainbow is generally seen, crossing the fall, which adds much to the beauty of the scene. From Goat Island to Table Rock, the distance in a straight line is 1221 feet, but following the curvature of the fall, which is an irregular segment of a circle, with a deep angular gash near the centre, it is 2376 feet, which vast width detracts most surpri¬ singly from its apparent height. The tremendous noise occasioned by this vast body of water falling on the rocks below is of a most extraordinary description. Capt. Hall com¬ pares it to the incessant rumbling, deep, monotonous, sound, accompanied by the tremour, which is observable in a grist mill, of very large dimensions, where many pairs of stones are at work. Mr. M° Taggart, to the tumbling of a vast quantity of large round stones, from a huge precipice into water of a profound depth. A slight tremulous motion of the earth is felt to some distance on all sides, but is more particularly observable on Goat Island; the noise may be heard, when the atmosphere is favourable, 50 miles. In the summer of 1827, a schooner, called the Michigan, with a number of wild animals inhumanly confined on her deck, was towed to the margin of the rapids, and abandoned to her late : she passed the first fall of the rapids in safety, but struck a rock at the second, and lost her masts; there she remained an instant, until the current turned her round, and bore her away; a bear here leaped overboard, and swam to the shore; she then filled, and sunk, so that only her upper works were visible, and she went over the cataract almost without being seen : in a few moments her fragments, which were broken very small, covered the basin below. A cat and a goose were the only animals found alive. In October 1829, the schooner Superior was towed into the current, and abandoned; but she struck on a rock about the middle of the river, where she remained a considerable time, until the iurce of the current broke her up. 7.— Cavern. The violence of the impulse causes the water of the great fall to incline considerably forward in its descent, and the continual action on the shale has hollowed out the rock below, leaving the upper or hardest stratum hanging over in a very perilous manner, above 50 feet, forming a sort of cavern, into which daring travellers, at considerable peril, are able to penetrate, as far as Termination Rock, an impassible mass 153 feet from the entrance. It requires considerable nerve to undertake the tedious and difficult passage, or it would be the place of all others to contemplate this extraordinary sight. The rush of the water here is awful, the thundering sound tremendous, but the slippery 11 and nigged rocks, the difficulty of respiration, and the blasts of air, which is carried down in vast quantities by the river, and rises again with proportionate velocity in every direction, with the quantity of spray which accompanies its ascent, renders it unsafe, if not impossible, to remain any length of time. 8.— Forsyth's Hotel. A large and commodious house, nearly overhanging the fall, containing excellent accommodation for about 150 persons. From the top of this house, and from the galleries or pavilions in the rear, which are ranged one above the other, a fine view is obtained, the surrounding country, the upper course of the river for several miles, the rapids, and the falls, being seen at the same time ; the lower part of the fall is of course invisible, but the imagination cannot picture it more grand than it really is; from the pasture a foot path, laid with planks, winds from the upper bank, on which the house is situated, through the narrow marshy slip which forms the immediate margin of the river, to the Shantee, where an album is kept, in which visitors generally put their names, and which contains a vast number of the autographs of eminent travellers, and scientific men, from all parts of the world. The Canadian side is exquisitely beautiful, richly cultivated, and thickly inhabited; the ground is extremely fertile, and the rapid progress of population, business, and the arts, created by the Welland canal, and its collateral works, and its inexhaustible water power, will soon render it one of the most important parts of the British dominions. Mr. For¬ syth has recently disposed of his hotel and surrounding property, to a company of gentlemen, who have planned a city, and propose erecting churches, schools, ball and promenade rooms, public gardens, libraries, and houses of various sizes, so as to form a place of fashionable resort, to be called “ The City of the Falls.” 14.— Guide's House. The dwelling of the guide, who provides visitors with suitable dresses, and attends them to the cavern under the great fall. From the rear of his house a convenient staircase descends from the platform to the edge of the water below, and a rough and slippery path, over fragments of fallen rock, conducts to the foot of the fall; from the river the view is generally acknowledged to be much grander than from the American side, and the fall has an extraordinary appearance, no part of the rapids being seen; the water appears to be poured perpendicularly from the clouds. The Shantee, in front of the guide’s house, is a favourable spot for ladies to view the scene without incon¬ venience. 17.— Table Rock. A broad flat rock, forming a circular platform of considerable area, on the same level, and in immediate contact with the western extremity of the great ledge, over which the stream is precipitated; being 100 feet below the upper bank, it is undoubtedly one of the best, if not the very best point for viewing this magnificent scene, as the eye commands at once the whole of the majestic amphitheatre of cataracts, as well as the various stations on both sides of the river, a considerable distance. The shale having been washed from beneath, the rock projects several feet over the fall. Visitors possessed of strong nerves, lay themselves flat on the rock, with the face beyond the edge, looking from this fearful height into the roaring abyss below. The Table Rock is a favourite place for strangers to inscribe their initials or names, with the date of their visit; but it is probable that posterity will not be much benefited by this ingenuity, as the rock has many considerable seams and fissures, and a long slip a few yards below fell with a tremendous crash, in July 1818. This mass, which was ICO feet in length, and from 30 to 40 in breadth, providentially fell during the night, or many lives might have been lost, as the pathway to the guide’s house passed over it; a portion of it, 15 feet long, lies on the bank of the river below. 18 .—Path to the Ferry. A convenient path, recently made, which greatly facilitates the approach to the Ferry, and forms an agreeable promenade ; it proceeds about half a mile in a direct line, when turning short round, it descends, in a safe and easy manner, to the margin of the river. 12 19.— Ferry. About half a mile below the Falls, the river, which is there 400 yards in width, is safely crossed in a small boat; although the water is considerably agitated, the ferrymen, from their knowledge of the various currents and eddies, cross it without danger at any time of the day in about a quarter of an hour ; but the passengers seldom escape without a complete soaking from the spray of the great fall, which descends like rain. The comparative smoothness of the river so immediately after the fall, is accounted for by the great depth of the pool into which the cataract is precipitated, and the sudden contrac¬ tion of the river; the descending water sinks down and forms an under-current, while a superficial eddy carries the upper stratum back to the fall. The banks of the river are here remarkably wild and striking. Mr. Howison is enthu¬ siastic in his description of the view from this place: he speaks of it as being of the most gorgeous description, and of most surpassing grandeur. 20 .—Niagara County. The banks of the river, for nearly its whole course on the American or United States side, are in the County of Niagara; at the Falls is the rapidly-increasing manufacturing village of Manchester. Two large hotels, kept by Mr. Whitney, are situated here, which, as well as those on the British side, are crowded with visitors during the summer season, and constant communication is kept up with various parts by well-appointed stage coaches. The roads on both sides are separated from the precipitous banks, in many places, only by a narrow slip of wood, and the country round is most beautiful, being a succession of fertile fields, orchards, and gardens. The village of Manchester was burnt by the British troops in 1813, and was rebuilt after the peace. At a short distance is a small territory, belonging to the remnant of the once powerful tribe of Tuscarora Indians, who emigrated from North Carolina about the beginning of the last century, at the invitation of the Five Nations, into whose confederacy, which then received the title of the Six Nations, they were received ; they have a Protestant clergyman resident amongst them, and many have voluntarily adopted Chi’istianity : several of their farms are handsome, and well cultivated. 22. American Fall. The American, or, as it is sometimes called, the Fort Sehloper Fall, is 163 feet in per¬ pendicular height; although it is in reality 13 feet higher than the great fall, yet from the Table Rock it appears otherwise. This is partly from the effect of the perspective, but more particularly from the accumulation of rocks below, upon which the water breaks; the whole width of the fall to Goat Island is 1072 feet: it is bold and straight, and is chafed to snowy whiteness by projecting rocks, which break its fall in several places to two-thirds of its descent, but it does not approach in extent, sublimity, or awful beauty, that on the Canadian side. Near Goat Island a rock of considerable size, on the verge of the precipice, cuts off a portion of the water, which descends in a narrow stream, some¬ times dignified with the title of the Montmorency Fall; which, however insignificant it may appear, here amid the mighty rush of waters, would rank high amongst European cascades. About 50 yards above the crest of the fall, and of course not seen in the present view, is a wooden bridge of admirable construction, crossing the worst part of the rapids on this side to Goat Island, which was before only accessible at great personal risk by dropping down the river between the two currents ; much boldness of conception, skill, and inge¬ nuity, was shown in the construction of this bridge, by its spirited projector, General Porter, of the American army. FINIS. Printed by T. Brettell, Rupert Street, Haymurket. -Nttl 8f. * jl l/ 2 / ,'■ • 3LyU{} ft Juf'"' '-' 1 m K ^7 ' : 0gA$FFFF*y" Krp/nna/iuii of a ' 7 A 1 1 o f’JKK AdlUL S ofJUXAGARA EtfuMmg at the EdWOMAMA LEICESTER SQUARE. > 1’ ? P VA~A ■ - V- \ n iV* 3j» 7'~\ 7 y./ v > '/ ' k ^ ' ’ ji f 7' .A ’ <—A > ' 'l' '. . v°/> >‘ 7 7 » ^ 1 / ^ ^— ■> R. ^ l,> V •> •' r ^4-'7 cs * ==r ^ n fV) ‘n ” A_— .-A„^ q xr^y?-^'" ^ *fte jW . -vv< <*'■ P' slf 1} A\ \ ^ A£,%(? ZAPP ** f fwH fo 7 'Vv 7% •77 V. a I 1 ....... , i }4 v •■•. v^' )i" 1 i "v^ { J A/". // ■rvn v -snA >yA l 1 1 Ad 8 ri wk(Mk.M s k 7 / Goat Island. I Buldft Still/case J Column of Vapour 4 Brldpc to lltt Terrapin Tot/ 5 Rapids 6 Horse Shoe Fall 7 Cavern ■ 8 Bouse Erected for an Hotel by Sf r Forsyth \ Pathway from Forsyths Hotel 1 9 to the Table Roc I 10 Forsyths Hotel 11 Tart of the Table Rock 11 Party of dative Tn chans ft l f «A |7 7 fit •M < a v’;i "( SF /7 r r /? 1 ■,, 7 - ■ J : A &%\ A A y p •CvAL,?^^5^ %$& | Heights on winch it is proposed I to Erect the City of Che Falls It Guides House /j Aew Stauease Hi Old Staircase 17 Tahir Tod: 18 Path to the Pen 7 19 Ferry 20Niagara County 21 He scent to the Ferry 22 American Fall 23 Manchester 21 Whitneys Hotel 25 Montmorency Fall J 26 ParT ° f fkc Tallc Jl>oc7t I Which fell in Jut) ■ ISIS