itself indelibly on her astonished imagination. The tremendous noise

"As if the world's wide continent

Had fallen in universal ruin wrackt,"

bewildered her senses as she stood on the Table Rock, which is on a level with the great Horse-shoe Fall on the Canada side. Here

"The thunder of the earth-uplifting roar,

Made the air sweep in whirlwinds from the shore."

The river before her was divided by a small green island, called Goat Island, on each side of which it rushed headlong down a descent full of broken rocks with tremendous speed, increasing every moment, until it hurled the vast flood of the great American lakes over the mighty precipice in two twin cataracts that united below. Her eye scarce knew where to rest-she was astounded. The gigantic liquid sheet of emerald and of silver,"horribly beautiful!"-its semicircular front, nearly three quarters of a mile broad, grandly shrouded by revolving columns of mist that rose perpetually from the thundering gulf-inspired her with sublime admiration; while a lovely sunbow, radiant in the very midst of those columns, awakened sensations still more exquisite; the glowing and vivid colours of that beautiful iris, long fascinated her gaze. But now the columns became confused and broken, the arches of the bow melted from their centre that still remained unaltered, the spray, rising like an immense curtain from the foot of the cataracts, formed into prodigious shapes, and a number of shattered rainbows suddenly appeared, playing in fragments about them. Entranced, she watched this splendid

transformation, then her soul, overwrought with the height of its sensations, found a welcome relief in the soft placidity of the island on the river and the opposite American shore, which strikingly contrasted with the awfulness of the wild rapids and the matchless cataract which they overlooked.

Letitia, after the first surprise and enchantment had a little subsided in her youthful breast, was eminently pleased with the sight of thousands of water-fowl, who, coming from northern lands in search of a milder climate, swam down, or flew on whistling wings a little over, the Niagara river to the brink of the Falls, there advancing in the air about the mists fronting the stupendous sheet of water, and lingering in the neighbourhood with evident joy and wonder; ducks of many species, the teal, the widgeon, the shallard, and the swan, were among these migratory birds, and pointed out to Letitia by the governess. Frequently were some of the interesting creatures borne down by the glassy current into the gulf and drowned. Letitia particularly grieved for two noble swans, which came on boldly past Goat Island, then became entangled in the confused and dashing waves of the rapids, and were presently precipitated together over the precipice. She was in tears, but a fresh succession of novel objects rendered her regret no more than momentary.

The Earl, who had little relish for the sublimities of nature, had chiefly interested himself with calculating the altitude of the two cataracts and their curvilinear length, and, coming to the conclusion that these great falls were not so large as many others in different parts of the world, he decided that they had no particular

claim to praise. The Misses Charlestons, piqued for the reputation of the wonder of Niagara, asked him if in all his travels he had seen, or even heard, of any so astonishingly sublime, leaving out of the question the quantity of feet they measured? The Earl pleased the young ladies by replying that Mr. Charleston had informed him that one hundred and two millions of tons of water, it was computed, were hourly precipitated down these rapids, and he must say he had never known any Falls which poured such a quantity as that; certainly, in respect of quantity, these cataracts were magnificent.

The travellers left the flat surface of the Table Rock, which juts over the terrific abyss, by open steps cut in its lofty side, and crossed the ferry a little below the Falls, in order to have a complete front view of them; there, on the water, Lady Hester was, if possible, more amazed and awe-struck with the immense scene, than before; but, turning her head, the Niagara, with the flocks of birds flying along with, or upon its current, now appeared calmly flowing on toward Lake Ontario, thirteen miles distant, without exhibiting one trace of that tremendous agitation which it had just passed through, and whilst she was delighted with this beautiful change, it suggested to her many similitudes of the changes of human life.

At Queenston, seven miles from the Falls, on the river, Lady Hester and her friends dined at six in the evening, and there they staid a night. The next morning they went four miles above the town to view another wonder of the Upper province, which would have been a secondary attraction nowhere but in the neighbourhood of the stupendous cataracts-this was the Whirlpool of the

Niagara. The country was now entirely altered, rising into bold and high ridges, known as the Queenston Heights; the river passes between perpendicular precipices; the current becomes extremely rapid and powerful ; suddenly leaving the direct channel it advances with maddening velocity round the circularly excavated banks; then, having made this circuit, regains its ordinary course, which suddenly contracts, and dashes along confined between frowning rocks. Here Lady Hester renewed her former sublime sensations, and elevated her thoughts to that Being, whose infinitely varied works of beauty and of grandeur, form a continual feast for the enlarged soul. Mr. Charleston stated the mouth of the Whirlpool to be at least one hundred feet wide, and two thousand in length; the estimated depth was fearful to contemplate. The water was terrifically agitated, covered with raging froth, of dazzling whiteness, whirling round the centre of the vortex, convulsed, writhing, curling, and hissing, like a boiling cauldron. Letitia's youthful sensibility was again called into play, for here, as at the Falls, she saw some fine water-fowl perish, being caught within the dreadful circle, and swept round and round, with a quivering unequal motion, to the centre, where they were sucked in while yet their harrowing shrieks mingled with the din of the water.

The travellers returned to the town of Niagara before nightfall, and, as the present lovely weather was shortly expected to give place to the rainy season, they determined to lose no time in sailing up the more interior lakes. Lady Hester made presents to the two amiable daughters of their polite host, and parted from them for a short period only, intending to return and remain

with them a week before visiting Lower Canada. The master of the vessel, which the travellers had hired, was a skilful sailor, advanced in years, who was assisted by three other seamen equally experienced. None of the party felt the least hesitation in trusting life and a large amount of money which they carried with them, to his care, for he had given many references, that had proved highly satisfactory, to persons of respectability in Toronto, both as to his honesty and intimate knowledge of sailing on the lakes. The trim ship was stored under his eye with provisions for a month, and the travellers passed from the Niagara, through the Chippewa River, into Lake Erie, on the day after their visit to the Whirlpool.