ins of Table-Rock, and gazing on the
tumbling, heaving, foaming world of waters, which seem to fill the whole
horizon of vision, the mind becomes oppressed with a feeling of awe, and
realizes to its full extent nature's grandest vision.

With one vast leap the broad river shoots headlong into an abyss whose
real depth we are left to imagine, since the feet of the cataract are
forever hidden in a white cloud of mist, shrouded in a dense veil which
no eye can penetrate. At the centre of the curve, where the water is
deepest, the creamy whiteness of the remainder of the cataract is
replaced by a hue of deep green. It seems one vast sheet of liquid
emerald, curving gracefully over the edge of the precipice, and swooping
downward with endless change yet endless stability, its green tinge
relieved with countless flecks of white foam.

The mind cannot long maintain its high level of appreciation of so grand
a scene. The mighty monotony of the view soon loses its absorbing hold
on the senses, and from sheer reaction one perforce passes to prosaic
conceptions of the situation. For our part, we found ourselves
purchasing popped corn from a peripatetic merchant who ludicrously
misplaced the h's in his conversation, and, taking a seat above the
Falls, where the edge of the rapids swerved in and broke in mimic
billows at our feet, we enjoyed mental and creature comforts together.

One need but return to the American side, and cross to the islands
which partly fill the river above the Falls, to obtain rest for his
overstrained brain among quieter aspects of nature. Goat Island one
cannot appreciate without a visit. Travellers, absorbed in the wilder
scenery, rarely do justice to its peculiar charm. Instead of the
contracted space one is apt to expect, he finds himself in an area
of many acres in extent, probably a mile in circumference, its whole
surface to the water's edge covered with dense forest. Passing inward
from its shore, scarce twenty steps are taken before every vestige of
the river is lost to sight, and on reaching its centre we find
ourselves, to all appearance, in the heart of a primeval forest,--only
the subdued roar of the rapids reminding us of the grand scene
surrounding. On all sides rise huge trunks of oaks and beeches,
straight, magnificent trees, many of the beeches seemingly from six to
eight feet in circumference, their once smooth bark covered inch by inch
with a directory of the names of notoriety-loving v