ce the shock of the water. The resonance from the
surrounding rocks causes the Swiss Reuss at the Devil's Bridge, when
full, to thunder more loudly than the Niagara.

On Friday, November 1, 1872, just before reaching the village of
Niagara Falls, I caught, from the railway train, my first glimpse of
the smoke of the cataract. Immediately after my arrival I went with a
friend to the northern end of the American Fall. It may be that my
mood at the time toned down the impression produced by the first
aspect of this grand cascade; but I felt nothing like disappointment,
knowing, from old experience, that time and close acquaintanceship,
the gradual interweaving of mind and nature, must powerfully influence
my final estimate of the scene. After dinner we crossed to Goat
Island, and, turning to the right, reached the southern end of the
American Fall. The river is here studded with small islands. Crossing
a wooden bridge to Luna Island, and clasping a tree which grows near
its edge, I looked long at the cataract, which here shoots down the
precipice like an avalanche of foam. It grew in power and beauty.
The channel spanned by the wooden bridge was deep, and the river there
doubled over the edge of the precipice, like the swell of a muscle,
unbroken. The ledge here overhangs, the water being poured out far
beyond the base of the precipice. A space, called the Cave of the
Winds, is thus enclosed between the wall of rock and the falling
water.

Goat Island ends in a sheer dry precipice, which connects the American
and Horseshoe Falls. Midway between both is a wooden hut, the
residence of the guide to the Cave of the Winds, and from the hut a
winding staircase, called Biddle's Stair, descends to the base of the
precipice. On the evening of my arrival I went down this stair, and
wandered along the bottom of the cliff. One well-known factor in the
formation and retreat of the cataract was immediately observed. A
thick layer of limestone formed the upper portion of the cliff. This
rested upon a bed of soft shale, which extended round the base of the
cataract. The violent recoil of the water against this yielding
substance crumbles it away, undermining the ledge above, which,
unsupported, eventually breaks off, and produces the observed
recession.

At the southern extremity of the Horseshoe is a promontory, formed by
the doubling back of the gorge excavated by the cataract, and into
which it plunges. On the promon