arewell to earth, if not to water. When I reached the further
extreme of the bridge and looked below, Almighty Heaven! before thee, in
all thy unspeakable grandeur, and in this awful situation, what a poor,
dependent, finite being did I feel myself to be! and, to be serious--for
no man can feel otherwise here--I defy all the painters--all the
poets--all the tourists--and in fact all mankind, to give to one who has
not already seen this awfully magnificent scene, the most faint
impression of its sublime and terrible reality. It is far away beyond
human apprehension to delineate, however imperfectly, its bare profile.
It is one of the few objects which cannot be proportioned; and nothing
short of actual observation of the awful reality, can afford any
satisfaction to the inquiring mind. It is indeed the work of _God_.

To account for the source of the vast stream of water which is
constantly tumbling over the falls, seems extremely difficult. It never
varies, but is eternally the same. You cannot change your situation
twenty rods in any way, but its features vary materially. Hence arises
the difficulty of making a good general likeness. I had heard and read a
great deal of the Horse-shoe falls, but there is now no similitude of
one to be seen. Its appearance is more in the form of a flat-iron, or
the letter V, with the point up stream. It is said, and I have no doubt
of its truth, that the view of the Horse-shoe falls is by far the
grandest and most imposing; but it requires some nerve to venture
thereon and look below. Goat Island contains about seventy acres, is
very heavily timbered, and belongs to Judge Porter, who bought it at $10
per acre. Between it and the American shore are several other small
islands; and the Goat-island-bridge, as it is called, is thrown first on
one of these, and thence to the island itself. A very extensive paper
mill is built upon the island on which the bridge first rests. If Judge
Porter were disposed to sell out his purchase, he could doubtless
realize a profit of a thousand per cent upon his seventy acres. You are
charged twenty-five cents for the use of the bridge during your stay,
for which you cross as often as you please. On the island is kept a
collection of minerals, petrefactions, &c. being a sort of museum, of
which the toll-gatherer is proprietor. He makes it a matter of
conscience to charge pretty roundly for any you may purchase, as they
are _said_ to be collected under and abo