e glories of autumn, its
encircling woods, happily spared by the remorseless hatchet, and tinted
with the brilliant hues peculiar to the American "Fall." Now the glory
had departed; the woods were still there, but were generally black, with
occasional green pines; beneath the grey trunks was spread a thick
mantle of snow, and from the brown rocks inclosing the deep channel of
the Niagara River hung huge clusters of icicles, twenty feet in length,
like silver pipes of giant organs. The tumultuous rapids appeared to
descend more regularly than formerly over the steps which distinctly
extended across the wide river. The portions of the British, or
Horse-shoe Fall, where the waters descend in masses of snowy whiteness,
were unchanged by the season, except that vast sheets of ice and icicles
hung on their margin; but where the deep waves of sea-green water roll
majestically over the steep, large pieces of descending ice were
frequently descried on its surface. No rainbows were now observed on the
great vapour-cloud which shrouds for ever the bottom of the Fall; but we
were extremely fortunate to see now plainly what I had looked for in
vain at my last visit, the _water-rockets_, first described by Captain
Hall, which shot up with a train of vapour singly, and in flights of a
dozen, from the abyss near Table Rock, curved towards the east, and
burst and fell in front of the cataract. Vast masses of descending fluid
produce this singular effect, by means of condensed air acting on
portions of the vapour into which the water is comminuted below.
Altogether the appearance was most startling. It was observed at 1 P.M.
from the gallery of Mr. Barnett's museum. The broad sheet of the
American Fall presented the appearance of light-green water and feathery
spray, also margined by huge icicles. As in summer, the water rushing
from under the vapour-cloud of the two Falls was of a milky whiteness as
far as the ferry, when it became dark and interspersed with floating
masses of ice. Here, the year before, from the pieces of ice being
heaped and crushed together in great quantities, was formed a thick and
high bridge of ice, completely across the river, safe for passengers for
some time; and in the middle of it a Yankee speculator had erected a
shanty for refreshments. Lately, at a dinner party, I heard a
staff-officer of talent, but who was fond of exciting wonder by his
narratives, propose to the company a singular wager,--a bet of one
h