sixteen miles from Lake Erie. As the river channel
suddenly narrows, the velocity of the current increases with great
abruptness. The rapids are but a third of a mile in length, during which
distance there is a fall of fifty-two feet. The boat caught in these
rapids stands but a poor chance, as at the end of the torrent the water
dashes down a cataract over 150 feet deep. The Canadian Fall passes over
a rocky ledge of immense area, and in the descent leaves a space with a
watery roof, the space being known as the "Cave of the Winds," with an
entrance from the Canadian side. The Canadian Fall has a sweep of 1,100
feet and is considerably deeper than the other.

It is little more than a waste of words to endeavor to convey an
impression of the grandeur and magnificence of Niagara. People have
visited it from all parts of the world. Monarchs and princes have
acknowledged that it exceeded their wildest expectation, and every one
who has gazed upon it agrees that it is almost impossible to exaggerate
its grandeur, or to say too much concerning its magnitude. Even after
the water has dashed wildly 150 feet downwards, the descent continues.
The river bed contracts in width gradually, for seven miles below the
falls, where the whirlpool rapids are to be seen. After the second fall,
the river seems to have exhausted its vehemence, and runs more
deliberately, cutting its channel deeper into the rocky bed, and
dropping its sensational habits.

Some writers have hazarded an opinion that, as time changes all things,
so the day may come when Niagara Falls shall cease to exist. Improbable
as this idea naturally sounds, it has some foundation in fact, for there
have been marvelous changes in the falls during the last few
generations. About two hundred and fifty years ago a sketch was taken of
Niagara, and a hundred years later another artist made a careful and
apparently accurate picture. These two differ from one another
materially, and they also differ greatly from the appearance of the
falls at the present time. Both of the old pictures show a third fall on
the Canadian side. It is known that about a hundred years ago several
immense fragments of rock were broken off the rocky ledge on the
American side, and, more recently, an earthquake affected the appearance
of the Canadian Fall. Certain it is, that the immense corrosive action
of the water, and the gradual eating away of the rock on both the ledge
and basin, has had the effect