It will be understood that these celebrated grand Falls consist of the water of an immensely large river, which forms the outlet of a series of lakes that from their size are worthy of being called seas. These lakes, of which Erie, Huron, and Superior are the principal, stretch away in a north-westerly direction, dividing Canada from the United States. Erie is the most easterly of the lakes, and it is the river which pours from it that afterwards makes the Falls. When people in the old country' think of a river, they remember the Tweed, the Thames, or some other stream which one could pitch a stone across, or at all events row across in a wherry in a few minutes. The great rivers of America are something different. The volume of water issuing from the outlet of Lake Erie, at Buffalo-a town on the southern, or United States' sideis at first about five miles in width; then it narrows; but the breadth of the river may be said to vary from one and a half to three miles- quite a long look across it.

Three miles below Buffalo, at Black Rock, is the first regular ferry across, and the current runs here so rapidly that a steamboat of the same power as those that ply on the Firth of Forth betwixt Leith and Kinghorn, generally makes a semicircle of frequently a mile or two on her passage across. The river is here divided by a beautiful and fertile island (Grand Island) belonging to the States, about twelve or thirteen miles in length, which contains some of the finest land, and some of the most picturesque scenes that we have seen in America. The distance from the island to either shore nowhere exceeds a mile, and in some places on the States' side not more than 200 yards. The channel here is very deep, and the current runs so smoothly at the rate of from three to four miles an hourthat boats and canoes can pass and repass with ease and safety. Beneath Grand Island, or rather dovetailed into it, as it were, lies a small island belonging to Great Britain, a mile in length, called Navy Island, at the termination of which the river suddenly widens to about three miles betwixt Fort Slusser on the States' side, and

Chippeway Village, at the mouth of Chippeway Creek, which forms the entrance to the Wieland Canal on the Canadian side. The current here begins to run more swiftly, and continues to increase in velocity for two miles, when it arrives at what are called the Great Rapids. These constitute one of the most splendid objects imaginable, and to some they appear as beautiful, though certainly not so sublime, as the Great Fall itself. They are formed by numerous masses of rock that have been left alone to withstand the rude shocks of this prodigious accumulation of waters, the softer parts in some places having been washed away to a considerable depth by the constant action of the current.

It is peculiarly beautiful on a fine summer evening to stand on the Canadian shore, at an elevation of a hundred feet above the river, and see the vast clouds of white foam ascending high in the air, sometimes beautifully tinged by the last rays of the setting sun, long after he has ceased to illumine the dark expanse beneath. There are also, at irregular distances, shelving rocks which appear to have been made of sterner stuff, which run completely across the river, forming numerous embankments, over which the waters roll and tumble with tremendous fury. It is altogether a magnificent scene, and what a painter would much delight to contemplate. These rapids continue battling with the current to the very brink of the great leap, a distance of rather more than a mile, and are divided by another small island, Goat Island, whose foundations may truly be said to be laid in the deep, and which, if it had been placed in the river Thames instead of the river Niagara, would ere this have been made a perfect paradise. A handsome bridge, about 150 yards in length, connects it with the village of Manchester. This bridge was built at considerable expense and risk; the workmen employed in its erection had to be secured by ropes tied round their waists, to prevent them from being carried over the Falls, which are almost immediately beneath. It is an object of interest to the tourist, as from the centre arch

you have a beautiful view of the rapids, both up and down the river. The reader is already aware that this island, by dividing the river, makes two separate falls, but by far the largest portion of the waters goes down the Canada side. The breadth from the lower extremity of the island, where the river takes its awful leap, straight across to the British shore, may be about 500 yards, but, as the fall is something in the shape of a horse-shoe, the curve inwards, and deeply indented, the actual breadth is generally estimated at 700 or 800 yards: our own opinion is, that it cannot be short of half a mile. According to the best authorities of the many scientific men who have visited this place, the height from whence this huge body of water descends in one uninterrupted mass is 165 feet above the level of the river below. But to enable you to form any idea of this stupendous scene from description is utterly impossible. We have gazed on it a hundred and a hundred times, and always with increased emotions of admiration, fear, and wonder. When standing on the brink of the awful precipice, you think that the foundations of the earth are falling asunder: the tremulous motion of the rocks beneath your feet, and even of the surrounding country to some distance, which is distinctly felt, and the mighty thundering of the waters as they descend into the gulf beneath, are enough to shake a person of the strongest nerve.

The noise of the fall may be heard at the distance of twenty miles; and when the wind blows in a particular direction down the river, it may be heard at double, that distance. A very heavy spray rises, particularly in clear weather, many hundred feet above the Falls, sometimes flying away and incorporating itself with the dark clouds in the extreme distance, but more frequently condensing, and falling on the surrounding country as the wind blows it; and wo betide the poor wretch who is caught in the rain! No Scottish mist ever fell on the braes of Lochaber, or ever wet an Englishman into the skin, quicker than would the spray which ascends from the Falls of Niagara, When the wind blows down the

river, the passengers in the ferry-boat are obliged to use umbrellas. By far the finest view of these Falls is from the Canadian side, for here you have both the Horse-shoe and the American Fall at once before you. This lastmentioned is a most beautiful sheet of water, and well worthy to hold the rank of the second wonder of the world of this kind, although not to be compared in grandeur and sublimity with the other. It is about 150 or 200 yards in breadth; and either from its rocky bed being composed of harder materials, or from the greater weight of water coming down on the British side, and wearing away that channel more rapidly, it is about twenty feet higher than the Horse-shoe. It does not fall into a gulf or caldron as the other does, but amongst huge rocks, where it dashes itself into an ocean of foam, and then rushes with tremendous velocity to join its former companion.

From Goat Island a handsome flight of steps, well secured, leads you down to the margin of the river, where Sam Patch, of unhappy memory, made his celebrated leap. A ladder was erected 120 feet high, with a platform at the top, from which he descended into the eddy, to the great disappointment of thousands who had come far and near, expecting to see him actually leap over the Falls. But no living thing has ever gone over them and been seen again. The story of an Indian in a canoe having achieved this is all a humbug. On the Canadian side there is also a staircase by which you can descend to the river, and the strong-hearted and adventurous can, by means of a ledge of rocks, go 150 yards completely in under the great leap-a fearful place truly, and which you are glad to get out of again. Nevertheless, every one who has ventured there must admit that he has been amply rewarded for the risk he ran, in surveying the beauty and grandeur of such a scene. To say nothing of the immense body of waters above, beneath, and around you, which is truly awful, you have reflected before you on a fine day, when the sun shines full on the cascade, a succession of the most beautiful prismatic colours that can be imagined: it

is altogether a lively scene, and which, once seen, can never be forgotten. It is a matter of no little jeopardy, however, to get the length of Termination Rock, as the farther extremity of this pathway is called, for the shelf or jutting of the rock is in some places so narrow that a single false step would precipitate the luckless wight to immediate destruction. There is a house erected at the head of the staircase, where you can procure a guide for a trifle, and an oilcloth garment, without which you would be drenched to the skin instantly by the spray which is constantly dashing around you. There is also kept a kind of album, in which are inserted the names of those who have been so foolhardy as to venture the length of Termination Rock, and where we also had the honour to insert ours. Here are names recorded from every quarter of the globe, and it will afford amusement to find so many in the course of one season as there are from England and Scotland.

A ferry-boat plies with passengers only about half a mile beneath the Horse-shoe, and lands within a hundred yards of the American Fall, which, viewed from this place, has a most magnificent effect; but of all the sensations we ever experienced on water, the motion of this boat is the queerest. It is neither rolling nor tossing, but a mixture of both; yet the current is not so swift, at least not so perceptible as one would expect from the well-known great body of water that is running past of course it must be of immense depth. The river continues for six miles to run between precipitous banks, from 180 to 200 feet in height, until it comes to Queenstown, forming in many places eddies and whirlpools where no boat could live. The width seldom exceeds 300, and in some places not more than 200 yards. Indeed many people think, and with some appearance of probability, that the Falls must have been as far down as this. An old farmer, who came from Roxburghshire in Scotland about forty years ago, mentioned, that in his time he has noticed a perceptible alteration, particularly at the curve of the Horse-shoe, where the heaviest