. The falls of Niagara . over them. At certaintimes he feels no trembling of the earth ; he hears nostunning roar; he may see the spray scattered in alldirections by the wind, and of course he will see no , he is disappointed. But it is not long beforethe grand reality begins to break upon him, and everysucceeding day and hour of observation impresses himmore and more deeply with the vastness, the power, thesublimity of the scene, and the wonderful and variedbeauty of its surroundings. Those who spend one ormore seasons at Niagara know how very little can beseen or comprehended by
. The falls of Niagara . over them. At certaintimes he feels no trembling of the earth ; he hears nostunning roar; he may see the spray scattered in alldirections by the wind, and of course he will see no , he is disappointed. But it is not long beforethe grand reality begins to break upon him, and everysucceeding day and hour of observation impresses himmore and more deeply with the vastness, the power, thesublimity of the scene, and the wonderful and variedbeauty of its surroundings. Those who spend one ormore seasons at Niagara know how very little can beseen or comprehended by those who stop over one-train. They are fortunate who can see the Falls first from theferry-boat on the river below, and about one-third of theway across from the American shore. The writer has fre-quently tried the experiment with friends who were will-ing to trust themselves, with closed eyes, to his guidance,and wait until he had given them the signal to lookupward. Those who may be at Niagara a few nights before and. Rock of Ages and Whirlwind Bridge. Opposite page 114. LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. II5 after a full moon should not fail to go to Goat Island tosee the lunar bow. It is the most unreal of all realthings — a thing of weird and shadowy beauty. Another striking scene peculiar to the locality is wit-nessed in the autumn, when the sun in making its annualsouthing reaches a point which, at the sunset hour, isdirectly west from the Falls. Then those who are eastof them see the spray illuminated by the slant rays of thesinking sun. In the calm of the hour and the peculiaratmosphere of the season, the majestic cloud looks likethe spray of molten gold. In 1840 there was a small patch of stones, gravel, sand,and earth, called Gull Island, lying near the center of theCanadian rapid and about one hundred rods above theHorseshoe Fall. It was apparently twenty rods longby two rods wide, and was covered with a growth ofwillow bushes. It was so named because it was afavorite
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