recollect. A pair of horses is generally 1s. 6d. per mile, sometimes is. 3d. or 1s. 4d.; leaders, when necessary, only 1s. per mile; postillions about 2 d. per mile. Ferries are extremely high: the passage of Conway river cost 16s. while the ferry across the North river at New York, four times as wide, costs about one half of that sum.

July 26.-Before setting out this morning, we walked to a fall of water a few miles off the road. Although more than 200 feet high, yet, as the water falls over a naked rock, without any accompaniments, the height has no effect till you come quite close to the fall, and measure it in fact with yourself; when its height and magnitude are sufficiently demonstrated. The same thing happens at Niagara. There are no near objects of dimensions sufficiently known to serve as a scale; you are obliged to have recourse to your imagination for some, and the surprise is only produced by reflection. Looking at the fall of Niagara, you may say, for instance, that if a first-rate ship of war were brought to the foot of it, its main-mast would not reach the summit, (160 feet); that there would be room for the same ship behind the fall,-behind the liquid vault which springs 40 or 50 feet beyond the edge of the rock. Next, it is necessary to bring to your assistance the recollection of some wellknown river, to form an idea of the bulk of water

before you. The Thames, for instance, at London bridge, which is 300 yards in breadth, or the Seine at Paris, 120 yards; while the Niagara river is full 900 yards, including the island which divides it in two unequal portions. With these facts in your mind, you come at last to admire, and be astonished; but it is an effort of reason. What you see is merely a great mill-dam; but what you measure and compare is one of the wonders of the world.

The approach to Niagara is more striking than the fall itself. Coming to it from behind, you may descend the river 17 miles from Lake Erie to Chippaway; further, you would be carried down to inevitable destruction. You then travel along a level bank on the British side, at first very little above the water, deepening more and more as you advance, by the sinking of the bed of the river. The broad expanse of water slides along an inclined plane with a rapidity constantly accelerated ;-its bed is encumbered with rocks, against which the dark waves dash with inconceivable fury;—they elevate their round masses, then whirl in frightful hollow curves, and, from amidst the spreading foam, send up in the air sudden jets of white vapour like smoke. Distinct bodies of water seem to dispute the passage with each other, they overleap, they delve under each other with the rapidity of lightning. About two

miles below the landing, you perceive, at a distance, the vast plain of tumultuous waters ending abruptly, and, in its stead, a column of vapour rising slowly up into the atmosphere. Amidst the general hollow noise of the cataract, unequal blows are distinguishable, like subterraneous explosions. The scene becomes every step more terrific. You see clearly that the whole stream is swallowed up; it rounds smoothly over the brink of the abyss without struggle, and disappears. Trunks of trees mark sometimes the extreme rapidity of the current ;-they are observed shooting beyond the edge of the sinking river. Descending the bank 80 or 100 feet, you reach the Table-rock,-an horizontal stratum, level with the top of the cataract. There you may touch its very edge,-dip your hand in it,—and, with a plumb-line, measure the height; but the charm is in a great degree dissipated; and, however great and magnificent the object you see, its effect does not appear equal to what it ought to be, and what you know the reality is.

I hope this digression may be excused in favour of the cataract par excellence; and the Welsh cannot take it amiss that one of their water-falls should have brought Niagara to my recollection. To finish the description, I have only to notice a remarkable appearance. The water seems to fall with a retarded motion, to stop, and, near