Mr. Fergusson in his notes made during a Visit to the United States and
Canada in 1831, says: after breakfast I took leave of my friend, and
walked on for the Falls, leaving the stage, in which I had secured a
place, to follow. The day was delightful, and as I ascended the steep
hill from Queenston, I overtook a soldier of the 79th in charge of the
baggage wagons, leaning on his musket, and wrapt in admiration of the
surrounding scenery, "_It's mair like Scotland, sir, than ony thing
I've seen sin' I left it_," was the poor fellow's remark, and truly
it was far from misapplied, making due allowance for difference of
scale. The country from Queenston to the Falls is well settled, and
finely diversified by farms, orchards and open forest. The soil is
perhaps light, but in some places of a stronger description, and
all apparently fertile, desirable land. A very beautiful property,
originally laid out by the ill-fated Duke of Richmond, and subsequently
possessed by Sir Peregrine Maitland, adjoins the Road. The house, which
is in the cottage style, of wood, seems large and commodious. This
estate is in a very favourable situation, and has been lately sold
for 2,000l.; it contains about 450 acres of good, useful land. The
distance from Queenston to Niagara is about seven miles, and I sauntered
on the whole way, the coach not overtaking me. About four miles from
the Falls, the sound came upon my ear like the murmur of Old Ocean on
a rugged strand. In certain states of the atmosphere and the wind this
is heard at a much greater distance. The noise gradually increased,
and by and by the spray was seen rising in columns above the trees.
A splendid and extensive establishment was soon after recognised as
Forsyth's hotel, and, under feelings far more intense than common
curiosity, I hurried forward to a point, where Niagara in all its glory
came in view. From the increasing facility of migrating now-a-days even
from one end of the world to another, Niagara has lost somewhat of that
mysterious halo with which it was wont to be enveloped; but still it
must ever be Niagara. The most eloquent descriptions, I should think,
must prove inadequate to convey a just conception of the scene. Nor can
the pencil, I imagine, ever do it justice. A cataract may be said, as
regards the painter's art, to differ from all other objects in nature.
The human face and figure, the rich and varied landscape, the animal
and vegetable world, may with sufficient propriety be delineated _at
rest_, but quiescence forms no feature here. The ceaseless roar, the
spray mounting like clouds of smoke from the giant limekiln, and the
enormous sheet of water which rolls into the abyss, can only be felt
and understood by repeated visits to the scene. My attention was for a
time distracted by the rapids which are extremely interesting, and with
any other neighbour than the Falls would excite the highest admiration
and wonder. After some time spent in contemplation, I proceeded to my
friends, where a kind and comfortable home awaited me. Mr. C. possesses
a residence which is certainly one of the most romantic domiciles in the
world. The house stands on a small lawn upon a point overhanging the
rapids, and about half a mile above the Horse-Shoe Fall. The garden is
behind, washed by a fine branch of the river, which encircles a wild and
thickly wooded island, and on every side new and interesting prospects
appear. The river is a mile across, and of great depth, and, for the
same distance above the Falls, is one sheet of foam. We sauntered down
in the evening to the river side, and the rapids lost nothing by a
closer inspection. My bedroom looked directly upon them; I could watch
the smoke of the Fall, as I lay on my pillow; and with the wild roar of
the cataract sounding in my ears, I closed my first day at Niagara. The
following morning proved fine, and we devoted the forenoon, of course,
to the Falls. Lake Erie had just broken up, and the icebergs came
crushing down the rapids, in a way highly interesting. My friends being
quite at home in all the mazes of the river side, conducted me by a wild
and rugged route to the edge of the Table-rock, when, upon emerging from
a tangled brake, I beheld the Horse-shoe or great British Fall, pouring
down its volume of ice and water, at the distance of a few feet from
where we stood. The rock felt to me as though it vibrated, and a large
mass did in fact lately give way, soon after a party had retired from
the precarious stance. It is limestone, full of ugly fissures and rents.
A narrow wooden staircase conducts adventurous travellers to the bottom
of the Fall, where a sort of entrance is generally effected to a short
distance under the sheet, and for which performance a certificate in due
form is served out. The stair was at this time under repair, and the
accumulation of ice below perfectly reconciled me to wave pretensions
to such slippery honours. At some distance below the Fall, and opposite
to the American staircase, there is a ferry, to which a safe and most
romantic carriage-road has been lately formed, out of the solid rock,
at no small labour and expense. When a similar accommodation shall
have been provided upon the American side, it is expected to prove a
lucrative concern, but at the present foot-passengers only can be landed
in the States. The little skiff had just put off, with a party from the
Canada shores, and got involved in streams of ice, in a way somewhat
hazardous, and which rendered it impossible for the boatmen to return.
The scene from the ferry is indeed magnificent, the Horseshoe, the
American Fall, and Goat Island being all in view, with the great pool or
basin eddying in fearful and endless turmoil. In the evening I walked
up the river side towards the village of Chippeway, to visit a natural
curiosity upon Mr. C.'s estate. A spring surcharged with sulphuretted
hydrogen gas rises within a few paces of the river. A small building is
erected over it, and when a candle is applied to a tube in a barrel,
which encloses the spring, a brilliant and powerful light is evolved.
Close adjoining are the remains of extensive mills burnt by the
Americans during last war. The water privilege is great, and machinery
to any extent might be kept in play.--_Quart. Journ. of Agriculture._
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