understand the cold hearts, correct eyes, and cruel ambition of the
old Latin race. In Switzerland he will surround himself with a
flood of grandeur and loveliness, and fill himself, if he be
capable of such filling, with a flood of romance. The tropics will
unfold to him all that vegetation in its greatest richness can
produce. In Paris he will find the supreme of polish, the ne plus
ultra of varnish according to the world's capability of varnishing.
And in London he will find the supreme of power, the ne plus ultra
of work according to the world's capability of working. Any one of
such journeys may be more valuable to a man--nay, any one such
journey must be more valuable to a man--than a visit to Niagara.
At Niagara there is that fall of waters alone. But that fall is
more graceful than Giotto's tower, more noble than the Apollo. The
peaks of the Alps are not so astounding in their solitude. The
valleys of the Blue Mountains in Jamaica are less green. The
finished glaze of life in Paris is less invariable; and the full
tide of trade round the Bank of England is not so inexorably
powerful.

I came across an artist at Niagara who was attempting to draw the
spray of the waters. "You have a difficult subject," said I. "All
subjects are difficult," he replied, "to a man who desires to do
well." "But yours, I fear is impossible," I said. "You have no
right to say so till I have finished my picture," he replied. I
acknowledged the justice of his rebuke, regretted that I could not
remain till the completion of his work should enable me to revoke
my words, and passed on. Then I began to reflect whether I did not
intend to try a task as difficult in describing the falls, and
whether I felt any of that proud self-confidence which kept him
happy at any rate while his task was in hand. I will not say that
it is as difficult to describe aright that rush of waters as it is
to paint it well. But I doubt whether it is not quite as difficult
to write a description that shall interest the reader as it is to
paint a picture of them that shall be pleasant to the beholder. My
friend the artist was at any rate not afraid to make the attempt,
and I also will try my hand.

That the waters of Lake Erie have come down in their courses from
the broad basins of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, and Lake Huron;
that these waters fall into Lake Ontario by the short and rapid
river of Niagara; and that the falls of Niagara are made by a
sudden break in the level of this rapid river, is probably known to
all who will read this book. All the waters of these huge northern
inland seas run over that breach in the rocky bottom of the stream;
and thence it comes that the flow is unceasing in its grandeur, and
that no eye can perceive a difference in the weight, or sound, or
violence of the fall whether it be visited in the drought of
autumn, amid the storms of winter, or after the melting of the
upper worlds of ice in the days of the early summer. How many
cataracts does the habitual tourist visit at which the waters fail
him! But at Niagara the waters never fail. There it thunders over
its ledge in a volume that never ceases and is never diminished--as
it has done from times previous to the life of man, and as it will
do till tens of thousands of years shall see the rocky bed of the
river worn away back to the upper lake.

This stream divides Canada from the States--the western or
farthermost bank belonging to the British Crown, and the eastern or
nearer bank being in the State of New York. In visiting Niagara,
it always becomes a question on which side the visitor shall take
up his quarters. On the Canada side there is no town; but there is
a large hotel beautifully placed immediately opposite to the falls
and this is generally thought to be the best locality for tourists.
In the State of New York is the town called Niagara Falls; and here
there are two large hotels, which, as to their immediate site, are
not so well placed as that in Canada. I first visited Niagara some
three years since. I stayed then at the Clifton House, on the
Canada side, and have since sworn by that position. But the
Clifton House was closed for the season when I was last there, and
on that account we went to the Cataract House, in the town on the
other side. I now think that I should set up my staff on the
American side, if I went again. My advice on the subject to any
party starting for Niagara would depend upon their habits or on
their nationality. I would send Americans to the Canadian side,
because they dislike walking; but English people I would locate on
the American side, seeing that they are generally accustomed to the
frequent use of their own legs. The two sides are not very easily
approached one from the other. Immediately below the falls there
is a ferry, which may be traversed at the expense of a shilling;
but the labor of getting up and down from the ferry is
considerable, and the passage becomes wearisome. There is also a
bridge; but it is two miles down the river, making a walk or drive
of four miles necessary, and the toll for passing is four
shillings, or a dollar, in a carriage, and one shilling on foot.
As the greater variety of prospect can be had on the American side,
as the island between the two falls is approachable from the
American side and not from the Canadian, and as it is in this
island that visitors will best love to linger, and learn to measure
in their minds the vast triumph of waters before them, I recommend
such of my readers as can trust a little--it need be but a little--
to their own legs to select their hotel at Niagara Falls town.

It has been said that it matters much from what point the falls are
first seen, but to this I demur. It matters, I think, very little,
or not at all. Let the visitor first see it all, and learn the
whereabouts of every point, so as to understand his own position
and that of the waters; and then, having done that in the way of
business, let him proceed to enjoyment. I doubt whether it be not
the best to do this with all sight-seeing. I am quite sure that it
is the way in which acquaintance may be best and most pleasantly


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