I felt interested with Buffalo, and had promised myself much pleasure
from a visit to the country occupied by a branch of the Seneca tribe in
its neighbourhood; but Niagara was now within a few hours,--the great
object of the journey was almost in sight. I was for ever fancying that
I heard the sound of the "Thunder-water"[12] booming on the breeze; so,
with a restlessness and anxiety not to be suppressed, I got into the
coach on the day after my arrival at the capital of the lakes, and was
in a short time set down on the bank of the swift river Niagara, at the
ferry, which is some four miles from Buffalo.
We found the little rapids about the shore occupied by fishers of all
ages, who required but a small share of the patience which is deemed so
essential a qualification to the followers of this melancholy sport, for
they were pulling the simple wretches out as fast as the lines could be
baited and offered.
The shipment was quickly effected, and in a few minutes our faces were
turned from the dominion of the States. The vessel was a large
horse-boat; that is, a flat propelled by paddle-wheels similar to those
of a steam-boat, only wrought by horse-power,--an animal tread-mill in
fact. Whether the horses working this were here on good behaviour, or
not, I could not rightly ascertain, but certainly they were
scampish-looking steeds, their physiognomical expression was low and
dogged, such as one might expect from the degrading nature of their
unvarying task.
On the larboard gangway of our flat the American jack floated, and over
the starboard side waved the Union flag of Old England; they fluttered
proudly side by side, a worthy brotherhood, and so united may they long
be found!
The ride along the Canada shore was very fine, the noble stream being
constantly in sight: the country appeared thickly populated; but the
land poor, the cultivation of it, I believe, is not found very
profitable.
We halted to water the team at a public-house that stands upon the
ground where was fought the battle of Chippewa, which, as the Yankees
say, "eventuated just no how." This was the twentieth anniversary; and,
on alighting from the box, I was exceedingly amused to find the host and
a smart wayfaring young man, with mutual vehemence well worthy the
cause, fighting the battle over again.
From this house the eternal mist caused by the great fall may be plainly
seen curling like a vast body of light smoke, and shooting occasionally
in spiral columns high above the tree-tops; but not a sound told of its
neighbourhood, although we were not five miles distant from it, and the
day was calm and clear. At about three miles from this, as the vehicle
slowly ascended a rise, I heard for the first time the voice of the
waters, and called the attention of my friends within the carriage to
the sound.
Never let any impatient man set out for Niagara in one of these coaches;
a railroad would hardly keep pace with one's eagerness, and here were we
crawling at the rate of four miles per hour. I fancied that the last
three miles never would be accomplished; and often wished internally, as
I beat the devil's tattoo upon the footboard of the coach-box, that I
had bought or borrowed or stolen a horse at Chippewa, and galloped to
the wonder alone and silently.
At length the hotel came in view, and I knew that the rapid was close at
hand.
"Now, sir, look out!" quietly said the driver.
I almost determined upon shutting my eyes or turning away my head; but I
do not think it would have been within the compass of my will so to have
governed them; for even at this distant moment, as I write, I find my
pen move too slow to keep pace with the recollections of the impatience
which I seek to record.
It was at the moment we struck the foot of the hill leading up to the
hotel that the rapid and the great horse-shoe fall became visible over
the sunken trees to our right, almost on a level with us. I have heard
people talk of having felt disappointed on a first view of this
stupendous scene: by what process they arrived at this conclusion I
profess myself utterly incapable of divining, since, even now that two
years have almost gone by, I find on this point my feelings are not yet
to be analyzed; I dare not trust myself to their guidance, and only know
that my wildest imaginings were forgotten in contemplating this awful
reality.
A very few minutes after we were released from the confinement of the
coach saw myself and companions upon the Table-rock; and soon after we
were submitting to the equipment provided by a man resident upon the
spot for persons who chose to penetrate beneath the great fall, and
whose advertisement assured us that the gratification of curiosity was
unattended with either inconvenience or danger, as water-proof dresses
were kept in readiness, together with an experienced guide. The
water-proof dress given to me I found still wet through; and, on the
arrival of the experienced guide, I was not a little surprised to see
the fellow, after a long stare in my face, exclaim,
"Och, blur an' 'oons! Mr. Power, sure it's not yer honour that's come
all this way from home!"
An explanation took place; when I found that our guide, whom I had seen
some two years before as a helper in the stable of my hospitable friend
Smith Barry, at Foaty, was this summer promoted to the office of
"Conductor," as he styled himself, under the waterfall.
And a most whimsical "conductor" he proved. His cautions, and "divil a
fears!" and "not a hap'orth o' danger!" must have been mighty assuring
to the timid or nervous, if any such ever make this experiment, which,
although perfectly safe, is not a little startling.
His directions,--when we arrived at the point where the mist, pent in
beneath the overhanging rock, makes it impossible to distinguish
anything, and where the rush of air is so violent as to render
respiration for a few seconds almost impracticable,--were inimitable.
"Now, yer honour!" he shouted in my ear--for we moved in Indian
file,--"whisper the next gintleman to follow you smart; and, for the
love o' God! shoulder the rock close, stoop yer heads, and shut fast yer
eyes, or you won't be able to see an inch!"
I repeated my orders verbatim, though the cutting wind made it difficult
to open one's mouth.
"Now thin, yer honour," he cried, cowering down as he spoke, "do as ye
see me do; hould yer breath, and scurry after like divils!"
With the last word away he bolted, and was lost to view in an instant.
I repeated his instructions however to the next in file, and, as
directed, scurried after.
This rather difficult point passed, I came upon my countryman waiting
for us within the edge of the curve described by this falling ocean; he
grasped my wrist firmly as I emerged from the dense drift, and shouted
in my ear,
"Luk up, sir, at the green sea that's rowlin' over uz! Murder! bud iv it
only was to take a shlope in on uz!"
Here we could see and breathe with perfect ease; and even the ludicrous
gestures and odd remarks of my poetical countryman could not wholly rob
the scene of its striking grandeur.
I next passed beyond my guide as he stood on tiptoe against the rock
upon a ledge of which we trod, and under his direction attained that
limit beyond which the foot of man never pressed. I sat for one moment
on the Termination Rock, and then followed my guide back to my
companions, when together we once more "scurried" into day.
"Isn't it illegant, sir?" began the "Conductor," as soon as we were well
clear of the mist.
"Isn't it a noble sight intirely? Caps the world for grandness any way,
that's sartain!"
I need hardly say that in this opinion we all joined loudly; but Mr.
Conductor was not yet done with us,--he had now to give us a taste of
his "larnin."
"I wish ye'd take notice, sir," said he, pointing across the river with
an air of authority and a look of infinite wisdom. "Only take a luk at
the falls, an' you'll see that Shakspeare is out altogether about the
discription."
"How's that, Pat?" inquired I, although not a little taken aback by the
authority so gravely quoted by my critical friend.
"Why, sir, Shakspeare first of all says that there's two falls; now, ye
may see wid yer own eyes that it's one river sure, and one fall, only
for the shtrip o' rock that makes two af id."
This I admitted was evident; whilst Pat gravely went on:
"Thin agin, only luk here, sir; Shakspeare says, 'The cloud-cap tower;'
why, if he'd ever taken the trouble to luk at it, he'd seen better than
that; an' if he wasn't a fool,--which I'm sure he wasn't, bein' a grand
poet,--he'd know that the clouds never can rise to cap the tower, by
reason that it stands up above the fall, and that the current for ever
sets down."
Again I agreed with him, excusing Shakspeare's discrepancies on the
score of his never having had a proper guide to explain these matters.
"I don't know who at all showed him the place," gravely responded Pat;
"but it's my belief he never was in id at all at all, though the
gintleman that tould me a heap more about it swears for sartin that he
was."
This last remark, and the important air with which the doubt was
conveyed, proved too much for my risible faculties, already suffering
some constraint, and I fairly roared out in concert with my companion,
who had been for some time convulsed with laughter.
Whoever first instructed the "Conductor" on this point of critical
history deserves well of the visitors so long as the present subject
remains here to communicate the knowledge; indeed, I trust, before he is
drowned in the Niagara, or burnt up with the whisky required, as he
says, "to keep the could out of the shtomach," the present possessor of
this curiosity in literature will bequeath it to his successor, so that
it may be handed down in its integrity to all future visitors.
Next morning at an early hour I revisited the "Termination Rock," but
excused myself from being accompanied by "the Conductor." I next
wandered down the stream, and had a delightful bathe in it. Accompanied
by a friend, I was pulled in a skiff as close to the fall as possible,
and in short performed duly all the observances that have been suggested
and practised by curiosity or idleness; but in all these I found no
sensation equal to a long quiet contemplation of the mass entire, not as
viewed from the balconies of the hotel, but from some rocky point or
wooded shade, where house and fence and man and all his petty doings
were shut out, and the eye left calmly to gaze upon the awful scene, and
the rapt mind to raise its thoughts to Him who loosed this eternal flood
and guides it harmless as the petty brook.
There never should have been a house permitted within sight of the fall
at least. How I have envied those who first sought Niagara, through the
scarce trod wilderness, with the Indian for a guide; and who slept upon
its banks with the summer trees for their only shelter, with the sound
of its waters for their only _reveille_.
Now, one is awakened here by a bell, which I never can liken to any
other than a dustman's, and can hardly find a spot whereto parasols and
smart forage-caps intrude not.
I would even include in my denunciation the tower which is now erected
upon the piece of rock that abuts upon the great fall, and standing in
whose gallery you actually hang suspended over the abyss; not but that
the tower is in itself rudely simple, and in good taste perhaps, but
that one feels this place needs no such accessories, and, instead of
deriving advantage from them, is degraded into a mere show by their
presence; and, in saying this much, I feel as though the application of
the term was a profanation.
I only saw three natives near the fall during my stay; but these formed
a little group I would like much to have had Landseer look upon.
I was walking one morning before breakfast about a quarter of a mile
below the fall, when I suddenly came upon a squaw leaning against a
tree: as many of the Tuscaroras understand a few words of English, I
addressed her with "Good morning, good morning!"
With a calm bend of the head she placed her fingers over her lips by
way of return to my salutation, turning herself at the same time a
little away as if to avoid further notice or intercourse: curiosity,
however, overcame good-breeding in me, and mounting the little bank to a
level with the shady tree against which she passively leaned, I
immediately became aware of her object.
Coiled up, on the earth, by her feet lay an Indian, his head and
shoulders wrapped close in his blanket; upon this motionless mass her
eyes were calmly fixed: against the opposite side of the tree sat a very
handsome lad, about eight or nine years old, who never lifted his head
to look on the intruder: near the boy crouched a half-starved hound of
the lurcher kind, a red-coloured, wire-haired brute, with a keen cold
Indian look, and as apparently incurious as the best-taught warrior of
the tribe: there was no wagging of the tail in friendly recognition, as
might be expected from a kindly European dog; neither was there the
warning growl and spiteful show of bristled crest and angry teeth, nor
any suspicious circling round the stranger, with tail tucked close and
thievish scrutiny, so common amongst low-bred white curs; this hound of
the Red-man, on the contrary, deported himself in a manner creditable to
his race, and to the tribe of his adoption: I do not believe his eye was
ever once raised to survey me; or, if it was, the movement was so well
managed that I did not detect it.
Supported against the tree stood a long rifle, over whose muzzle was
hung a scarlet shoulder-belt and pouch, richly worked with an embroidery
of blue and white beads; by a thong of hide was also suspended from the
rifle a sheath of leather, through which protruded a couple of inches of
the bright broad blade of a knife: these I readily conceived to be the
appointments of the sleeping man; and the trio thus patiently watching
his slumbers,--his wife, child, and dog.
I looked upon this savage group for some minutes, and no happier scene
could have been found for such a rencontre:--the grassy knoll which the
family occupied; the rich foliage of the butter-nut tree that shaded
them; the wooded heights above, and the deep-channeled river flowing by;
together with a stillness made more thrilling by the sound of the
cataract, for a moment rumbling like near-coming thunder, and then
dying away into a continuous moan, soft and absolutely musical, whilst
afar off its light vapoury masses gently rose and fell, converted by the
morning sun into clouds of silver tissue. I have often, amongst other
vain wishes, sighed for the possession of the painter's power, but never
more than at this moment; and as I silently looked upon the unchanging
group, and called to mind the artists whom such a chance would have
repaid for longer travel, I grieved to think it should have been given
to one whose attempts by description to image it must prove so tame a
record.
After a long pause, pointing to the coiled-up sleeper, I ventured on a
second inquiry, saying, "Man,--he sick?"
The squaw fixed her fine eyes upon me, and comprehending my inquiry,
nodded once or twice, articulating in a low musical voice, "Man
sick,--whisky too much--make bad!"
Again her head drooped, and her eyes rested upon the motionless mass
before her; the little imp and the hound meanwhile never by a sign
indicating their knowledge of the presence of an intruder. I now turned
back towards the hotel, which I had left to watch the sun rise on the
fall from the bed of the river. My early stirring was every way
fortunate, for the morning was fresh and unseasonably cool, consequently
the misty abyss into which the river tumbled was bridged by beautiful
rainbows in every direction; whilst, to crown all, with the exception of
the group I have mentioned, no unhallowed foot broke on the holy place.
The family had not appeared on my return to the house; so seeking my
little chamber, whose window commanded the rapids and the great fall, I
flung myself upon my bed, and gratefully reviewed all the beauty of
earth and sky which I had been so happily permitted to behold and to
enjoy.
The days I passed here must always be recalled by me as days of
unalloyed enjoyment; I felt an indescribable calm steal, as it were,
over my spirit. Generally active, impatient, and inquiring, I have
seldom found any neighbourhood which I did not compass in a few days;
but from the vicinity of this spot I had no desire to stir. Finding that
the dinner-hour was two o'clock, which would have destroyed the day, I
requested the proprietor of the hotel, one of the most obliging persons
I ever met,--an Englishman,--to give our little party dinner at five;
and from breakfast to this time I believe our time was usually passed
lounging dreamily about Goat Island, to reach which you cross the river
below the falls to the American side, and then pass over the rapids on a
bridge, which is in itself a wonder.
The turf of this island, its trees and flowers, retaining in summer the
freshness of spring, the delicious purity of its atmosphere, and the
brightness of its waters, render it most charming. The solitude here has
no drawback; the strong currents of air by which it is encircled defy
the powers of the musquito,--that bane to all thin-skinned people with
pastoral inclinations, and not an insect in the least venomous or
annoying is to be found here.
This Island of the Rainbow, as it has been poetically and not
inappropriately named, is situated exactly between the falls;
surrounded, and intersected in part, by rapids frightful to look on.
Before American enterprise and ingenuity spanned these with the bridge
that now connects the Iris isle with the main land, the approach to it
must have been attended with great difficulty and much danger; indeed,
I believe it was very rarely attempted; at present it is occupied by one
or two poor families, who tend a garden now in progress, under the care
of the proprietor of the place.
Within these few years, a young man of good appearance was known to have
taken up his abode here; he shunned all observance, only holding
communion with a poor family who procured him what necessaries he
needed. After a residence of two years he died, without leaving the
slightest clue to his name or country. That his condition was gentle may
be inferred from his accomplishments: a flute and a guitar, on both of
which he is said to have played much and well, with a drawing or two,
are all that remain of the recluse, although the man who attended upon
him says he sketched and wrote much.
Certainly no anchorite ever selected a pleasanter summer solitude: how
he got through the severity of a five or six months' winter in a place
so exposed can only be imagined, since the hermit died and "made no
sign."
I visited the other lions of the place, but took little heed of them.
The sulphur springs were exhibited, and the gas ignited, by a
remarkably fine old man, who was full of anecdote of the late war: one
or two of his stories I took good note of, and purpose availing myself
of them at some future time.
On one afternoon I forced myself away to visit the Devil's Hole and the
Whirlpool, situated about five miles below the falls; and a wilder scene
it is impossible for imagination to conceive than the deep rocky basin
into which the river is precipitated, and from which it issues at right
angles from its previous course, bearing with it portions of the wrack
accumulated within the black vortex of this fearful pool, into whose
gulf it is impossible to look without a shudder. The drive through the
forest was delightful; and, if any sight could have repaid me for
leaving the neighbourhood of the falls, this fitting _pendant_ would be
that sight.
The bad weather which occurred so late in the month of June, and,
indeed, continued through the first days of July, had retarded the
advance of visitors. At the period of our stay there were but two or
three strangers here besides ourselves; and, not dining at the public
table, these I never saw except at a distance. The weather during the
day was warm without being oppressive, the evenings and nights
deliciously cool.
I had brought my companion, Mr. H----e, thus far on a promise of
returning with him in a few days, and never did I feel more urged to
break faith: but knowing that he was compelled to return in a certain
time, and had accompanied me out of sheer good-nature, I could not
reconcile it to myself to let him journey back alone; for our companions
were bound on a wide tour through the Canadas.
After a halt here of only three short days then, I finally crossed the
Niagara for the American shore, and immediately took a coach for
Tonnewanta, to intercept the boat on its way from Buffalo by the Erie
canal, intending to journey by this route as far as Rochester.
At Tonnewanta, a pretty little village, we were detained two or three
hours; and here I once more encountered my family of Tuscarora Indians.
The man was at this time wide awake, but still half drunk; and, although
a fine-made fellow, had that horrid brutal look which accompanies
continued debauch. He was attended as I at first saw him, only that now,
as he stood by the public-house door talking with a couple of negroes,
the boy and the hound only were beside him. I looked about for my lady
of the tribe, and perceived her squatted on her heels against the wall,
about fifty paces lower down, "burd alane."
From a slight furtive glance of the urchin, I perceived that he
recognised me; he spoke a couple of words to his father, who, turning
his head in the direction where I stood, muttered an interjectional
"Ugh!" and resumed his previous calm attitude, contrasting oddly with
the _insouciant_ look and merry grimaces of his negro companions.
I next walked on to the solitary squaw, in hopes of claiming
acquaintance; but she kept her eyes fixed upon a necklace she was
playing with as gravely as a devotee might tell her beads, and by no
sign of recognition deigned to flatter me.
Miserable and degraded race! on whose condition much care has been
vainly bestowed, much generous sympathy idly wasted! I say wasted, since
the aborigines of this continent are either above or below sympathy. I
confess my feeling for them has been much changed by a near view of
their condition and a better knowledge of their history and habits; and
whatever complaints they may advance against the rapacity of the white
man, he must at least be admitted a generous historian.
I shall have occasion hereafter to revert to the unpopular view of this
question, which I have adopted against my inclination in obedience to my
judgment, and meantime must quit my family of the Tuscaroras--what a
name to adorn a tale!--for the canal boat arrived, and in a moment we
were hurried to embark.