The Daemon of the World

First French expedition-Jacques Cartier-He first hears of the great Cataract-Champlain-Route to China-La Salle-Father Hennepin's first and second visits to the Falls.

In 1534, Jacques Cartier, a shrewd, enterprising, and adventurous sailor, made his first voyage across the Atlantic, touching at Newfoundland, and exploring the coast to the west and south of it. The two vessels of Cartier, called ships by the historians of the period, were each of only forty tons burden.

On the return of Cartier to France, so favorable was his report of the results of the expedition, that Francis I. commissioned him, the year following, for another voyage, and in May, 1535, after impressive religious ceremonies, he sailed with three vessels thoroughly equipped. The record of this second voyage of Cartier, by Lescarbot, contains the first historical notice of the cataract of Niagara. The navigator, in answer to his inquiries concerning the source of the St. Lawrence, "was told that, after ascending many leagues among rapids and water-falls, he would reach a lake one hundred and forty or fifty leagues broad, at the western extremity of which the waters were wholesome and the winters mild; that a river emptied into it from the south, which had its source in the country of the Iroquois; that beyond the lake he would find a cataract and portage, then another lake about equal to the former, which they had never explored."

In 1603, a company of merchants in Rouen obtained the necessary authority for a new expedition to the St. Lawrence, which they placed under the direction of Samuel Champlain, an able, discreet, and resolute commander. On a map published in 1613 he indicated the position of the cataract, calling it merely a water-fall (saut d'eau), and describing it as being "so very high that many kinds of fish are stunned in its descent." It does not appear by the record that he ever saw the Falls.

During the sixty years that elapsed between the establishment of the French settlements by Champlain and the expedition of La Salle and Hennepin, there can be little doubt that the great cataract was repeatedly visited by French traders and adventurers. Many of the earlier travelers to the region of the St. Lawrence believed that China could be reached by an overland journey across the northern part of the continent. Father Vimont informs us ("Relations of the Jesuits," 1642-3) that the Jesuit Raymbault "designed to go to China across the American wilderness, but God sent him on the road to heaven." As he died at the Saut Ste. Marie in 1641, he must have passed to the north of the Falls without seeing them. In 1648, the Jesuit father Ragueneau, in a letter to the Superior of the Mission, at Paris, says: "North of the Eries is a great lake, about two hundred leagues in circumference, called Erie, formed by the discharge of the mer-douce or Lake Huron, and which falls into a third lake, called Ontario, over a cataract of frightful height."

In some important manuscripts relating to the earliest expeditions of the French into Canada,-discovered a few years ago, and now in the possession of M. Pierre Margry, of Paris,-occurs a description of the Falls communicated by the Indians to Father Gallinée, one of the two Sulpician priests who accompanied La Salle in his first visit to the Senecas, in 1669. He seems to have been more indifferent to the charms of Nature than Father Raymbault, since he crossed the Niagara River near its mouth, and within hearing of its falling waters, yet did not turn aside to see the cataract. In his journal he says: "We found a river one-eighth of a league broad and extremely rapid, forming the outlet of Lake Erie and emptying into Lake Ontario. The depth of the river is, at this place, extraordinary, for, on sounding close by the shore, we found fifteen or sixteen fathoms of water. This outlet (the Niagara River) is forty leagues long, and has, from ten to twelve leagues above Lake Ontario, one of the finest cataracts in the world; for all the Indians of whom I have inquired about it say that the river falls at that place from a rock higher than the tallest pines-that is, about two hundred feet. In fact, we heard it from the place where we were, although from ten to twelve leagues distant, but the fall gives such a momentum to the water that its velocity prevented our ascending the current by rowing, except with great difficulty. At a quarter of a league from the outlet, where we were, it grows narrower, and its channel is confined between two very high, steep, rocky banks, inducing the belief that the navigation would be very difficult quite up to the cataract. As to the river above the Falls, the current very often sucks into this gulf, from a great distance above, deer and stags, elk and roebucks, which, in attempting to swim the river, suffer themselves to be drawn so far down-stream that they are compelled to descend the Falls, and are overwhelmed in its frightful abyss.

"Our desire to reach the little village called Ganastoque Sonontona (between the west end of Lake Ontario and Grand River) prevented our going to view that wonder. * * * I will leave you to judge if that must not be a fine cataract, in which all the water of the large river (St. Lawrence) * * * falls from a height of two hundred feet, with a noise that is heard not only at the place where we were,-ten or twelve leagues distant,-but also from the other side of Lake Ontario, opposite its mouth" (Toronto, forty miles distant).

Of the rattlesnakes on the mountain ridges he says: "There are many in this place as large as your arm, and six or seven feet long, and entirely black."

From Ganastoque Sonontona the party separated, the two priests, with their guides and attendants, designing to move to the west, along the north shore of Lake Erie, and La Salle apparently to return to Montreal, but in reality, as is supposed, to prosecute by a more southerly route the grand ambition of his life-the discovery of the Mississippi River-a purpose which he executed with even more than the "bigot's zeal," and literally, as it proved in the end, with the "martyr's constancy," for he was assassinated on the plains of Texas, some few years after, while endeavoring to secure to France the benefits of his great discovery.

After separating from his companions at the Indian village, he probably returned to Lake Ontario and the Niagara River, which he crossed, no doubt, on his way to some of the Iroquois villages, in search of a guide and attendants to assist him in his explorations. It may be assumed that he visited the Falls at this time, but his journal of this expedition has never been found.

The first description of the Falls by an eye-witness is that of Father Hennepin, so well known to those conversant with our early history. He saw it for the first time in the winter of 1678-9, and his exaggerated account of it is accompanied by a sketch which in its principal features is undoubtedly correct, though its perspective and proportions are quite otherwise. He says: "Betwixt the lakes Ontario and Erie there is a vast and prodigious cadence of water, which falls down in a surprising and astonishing manner, insomuch that the universe does not afford its parallel. 'Tis true that Italy and Switzerland boast of some such things, but we may well say they are sorry patterns when compared with this of which we now speak. * * * it [the river] is so rapid above the descent, that it violently hurries down the wild beasts while endeavoring to pass it, * * * they not being able to withstand the force of its current, which inevitably casts them headlong above six hundred feet high. This wonderful downfall is composed of two great streams of water and two falls, with an isle sloping along the middle of it. The waters which fall from this horrible precipice do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than that of thunder; for, when the wind blows out of the south, their dismal roaring may be heard more than fifteen leagues off."

The Horseshoe Fall from Goat Island

"The river Niagara having thrown itself down this incredible precipice, continues its impetuous course for two leagues together to the great rock, above mentioned [in another chapter as lying at the foot of the mountain at Lewiston], with inexpressible rapidity. * * * From the great Fall unto this rock, which is to the west of the river, the two brinks of it are so prodigiously high, that it would make one tremble to look steadily upon the water rolling along with a rapidity not to be imagined."

On his return from the West, in the summer of 1681, the Father informs us that he "spent half a day in considering the wonders of that prodigious cascade." Referring to the spray, he says: "The rebounding of these waters is so great that a sort of cloud arises from the foam of it, which is seen hanging over this abyss even at noon-day." Of the river, he says: "From the mouth of Lake Erie to the Falls are reckoned six leagues. * * * The lands which lie on both sides of it to the east and west are all level from Lake Erie to the great Fall." At the end of the six leagues "it meets with a small sloping island, about half a quarter of a league long and near three hundred feet broad, as well as one can guess by the eye. From the end, then, of this island it is that these two great falls of water, as also the third, throw themselves, after a most surprising manner, down into the dreadful gulph, six hundred feet and more in depth." On the Canadian side, he says: "One may go down as far as the bottom of this terrible gulph. The author of this discovery was down there, the more narrowly to observe the fall of these prodigious cascades. From there we could discover a spot of ground which lay under the fall of water which is to the east [American Fall] big enough for four coaches to drive abreast without being wet; but because the ground * * * where the first fall empties itself into the gulph is very steep and almost perpendicular, it is impossible for a man to get down on that side, into the place where the four coaches may go abreast, or to make his way through such a quantity of water as falls toward the gulph, so that it is very probable that to this dry place it is that the rattlesnakes retire, by certain passages which they find under-ground."

Finding no Indians living at the Falls, he suggests a probable reason therefor: "I have often heard talk of the Cataracts of the Nile, which make people deaf that live near them. I know not if the Iroquois who formerly lived near this fall * * * withdrew themselves from its neighborhood lest they should likewise become deaf, or out of the continual fear they were in of the rattlesnakes, which are very common in this place. * * * Be it as it will, these dangerous creatures are to be met with as far as the Lake Frontenac [Ontario], on the south side; and it is reasonable to presume that the horrid noise of the Fall and the fear of these poisonous serpents might oblige the savages to seek out a more commodious habitation." In the view of the Falls accompanying his description, a large rock is represented as standing on the edge of the Table Rock. This rock is mentioned by Kalm, a Swedish naturalist, who visited the Falls in 1750, as having disappeared a few years before that date. Father Hennepin's reference to the animals drawn into the current and going over the Falls, and to the rattlesnakes, indicates unmistakably his previous acquaintance with Father Gallinées's narrative.

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Baron La Hontan's description of the Falls-M. Charlevoix's letter to Madame Maintenon-Number of the Falls-Geological indications-Great projection of the rock in Father Hennepin's time-Cave of the Winds-Rainbows.

Even more exaggerated than Father Hennepin's is the next account of the Falls which has come down to us, and which was written by Baron La Hontan, in the autumn of 1687. Fear of an attack from the Iroquois, the relentless enemies of the French, made his visit short and unsatisfactory. He says: "As for the water-fall of Niagara, 'tis seven or eight hundred feet high, and half a league wide. Toward the middle of it we descry an island, that leans toward the precipice, as if it were ready to fall." Concerning the beasts and fish drawn over the precipice, he says they "serve for food" for the Iroquois, who "take 'em out of the water with their canoes"; and also that "between the surface of the water, that shelves off prodigiously, and the foot of the precipice, three men may cross in abreast, without further damage than a sprinkling of some few drops of water." Father Hennepin, it will be remembered, makes this space broad enough for four coaches, instead of three men.

From the Baron's declaration as to the manner in which the Indians captured the game which went over the Falls, it would seem that the bark canoe of the Indian was the precursor of the white man's skiff and yawl, that serve as a ferry below the Falls. And the timid traveler of the present day, who hesitates about crossing in this latter craft, will probably pronounce the Indian foolhardy for venturing on those turbulent waters in his light canoe, whereas, in skillful hands, it is peculiarly fitted for such navigation.

A more correct estimate of the cataract than either of the preceding is that of M. Charlevoix, sent to Madame Maintenon, in 1721. After referring to the inaccurate accounts of Hennepin and La Hontan, he says: "For my own part, after having examined it on all sides, where it could be viewed to the greatest advantage, I am inclined to think we cannot allow it [the height] less than one hundred and forty or fifty feet." As to its figure, "it is in the shape of a horseshoe, and it is about four hundred paces in circumference. It is divided in two exactly in the center by a very narrow island, half a quarter of a league long." In relation to the noise of the falling water, he says: "You can scarce hear it at M. de Joncaire's [Fort Schlosser], and what you hear in this place [Lewiston] may possibly be the whirlpools, caused by the rocks which fill up the bed of the river as far as this."

Neither Baron La Hontan nor M. Charlevoix speaks of the number of water-falls. But Father Hennepin, it will be remembered, mentions three, two of which were to the south and west of Goat Island. And the Rev. Abbé Picquet, who visited the place in 1751, seventy years after Father Hennepin, says (Documentary History, I., p. 283): "This cascade is as prodigious by reason of its height and the quantity of water which falls there, as on account of the variety of its falls, which are to the number of six principal ones divided by a small island, leaving three to the north and three to the south. They produce of themselves a singular symmetry and wonderful effect."

Luna Fall and Island in Winter

The geological indications are that Goat Island once embraced all the small islands lying near it, and also that it covered the whole of the rocky bar which stretches up stream some hundred and fifty rods above the head of the present island. At that period, from the depressions now visible in the rocky bed of the river, it would seem probable that the water cut channels through the modern drift corresponding with these depressions. In that case there would then have been a third fall in the American channel, north of Goat Island, lying between Luna Island and a small island then lying just north of the Little Horseshoe, and stretching up toward Chapin's Island. On the south side of Goat Island, there would have been a fall between its southern shore and an island then situated about two hundred feet farther south.

The highest point in the American Fall, the salient and beautiful projection near the shore at Prospect Park, is upheld by a more substantial foundation than is revealed at any other accessible portion of the face of the precipice. This is made manifest on entering the "Shadow-of-the-Rock," where the spectator sees a massive wall of thoroughly indurated limestone, disposed in regular layers more than two feet in thickness, with faces as smooth as if dressed with the chisel. Passing in front of this, across the American Fall, under the Horseshoe and Table Rock, there must have been formerly a broad cleft of soft, friable limestone, to the disintegration and removal of which was due the great overhanging of the upper strata noticed by Father Hennepin and Baron La Hontan.

For three miles above the Falls, the course of the river is almost due west. But after leaving the precipice it makes an acute angle with its former direction, and thence runs north-east to the railway suspension bridge. The formation of the rapids-one of the most beautiful features of the scene-is due to this change of direction. At no point below its present position could there have been such a prelude-musical as well as motional-to the great cataract. And when these rapids shall have disappeared in the receding flood it is not probable that there will be other rapids that can equal them in length, breadth, beauty, and power.

The declivity in the lower channel through the gorge is ninety feet; but on the surface of the upper banks there is a rise of more than one hundred feet in the same direction-that is, down the river. Hence, when the Falls were at Lewiston they were more than two hundred and fifty feet high. Now the greatest descent is one hundred and sixty-eight feet, the diminution being the result of retrocession in the line of the dip-from north-east to south-west-in the bed-rock. It is owing to this dip that the surface of the water on the American side is ten feet higher than it is on the Canadian. The continuous column of water, however, is longest in the center of the Horseshoe, because of the fallen rock and débris lying at the foot of the other portions of the Fall. At this time the upward slope of the bed-rock is such that-if it shall prove to be sufficiently hard-the Falls, after receding four miles farther, will be two hundred and twenty feet high.

It is evident from the descriptions of Father Hennepin and of Baron La Hontan, that the upper stratum of rock over which the water falls must have projected beyond the face of the rock below much farther than it now does. The large masses of fallen rock lying at the foot of the American and Horse-shoe Falls are evidence of this fact. Travelers still go behind the sheet on the Canadian side, and into and through the Cave of the Winds, on the American side. But they do not expect to keep dry in so doing, nor to sun themselves on the rocks below, like the "rattlesnakes" of former days. Nevertheless, there is no more exciting nor exhilarating excursion to be made at the Falls than that through the Cave of the Winds.

Nowhere else are the prismatic hues exhibited in such wonderful variety, nor in such surpassing brilliancy and beauty. And although a rainbow is not a spraybow, it may be admitted that a spraybow is a rainbow, formed of drops of water, large or small. So here rainbow dust and shattered rainbows are scattered around; rainbow bars and arches, horizontal and perpendicular, are flashing and forming, breaking and reforming, around and above the visitor in the most fantastic and delightful confusion of form and effect. And if his fancy prompts him, he may arrange himself as a portrait, at half or full length, in an annular bow. The enamored Strephon may literally place his charming Delia in a living, sparkling rainbow-frame, flecked all over with diamonds and pearls.

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The name Niagara-The musical dialect of the Hurons-Niagara one of the oldest of Indian names-Description of the river, the Falls, and the surrounding country.

There is in some words a mystic power which it is not easy to analyze or define; they fascinate the ear even of those who do not understand their meaning. The very sound of them as they are enunciated by the human voice touches a chord to which the heart instinctively responds. So it is with the name of the great cataract. No one can hear it correctly pronounced without being charmed with its rhythmical beauty, or without feeling confident of its poetical aptness and significance in the dialect from which it was derived.

And although we have no means of determining the correctness of any of the fanciful or poetical interpretations which have been given of the word, still we cannot doubt that it must have had a peculiar force and justness with those who first applied it. Baron La Hontan, who spent several years among the Indians, noticed the remarkable fact concerning their language that it had no labials. "Nevertheless," he says, "the language of the Hurons appears very beautiful, and the sound of it perfectly charming, although, in speaking it, they never close their lips."

The most voluminous and among the earliest existing records connected with the River St. Lawrence, and the great lakes which it drains, are the well-known "Relations of the Jesuits," so called, comprising a yearly account of the labors of the Missionary Fathers sent out by the College at Paris to Christianize the Indians. In 1615, they established their mission at Quebec, and from thence extended their operations westward. In 1626, they reached the large and powerful tribe of Indians which occupied the splendid domain which may be described with proximate accuracy as bounded by a line commencing at a point on the southerly shore of Lake Ontario, about thirty miles west of the mouth of the Genesee River, and running thence parallel to that river to a point due west from Avon; thence nearly due west to Buffalo; thence along the north shore of Lake Erie to the Detroit River; thence up that river to a point directly west from the west end of Lake Ontario; thence east to that lake, and finally along the southern shore of it to the place of beginning.

The oldest and most notable name in all this territory is Niagara, as would naturally be inferred, when we consider the varied and wonderful features of the mighty river which flows across this country. Taking leave of Lake Erie, its clear waters gradually spread themselves out in a broad, bright channel, over a plain, open country, having a slight declivity, just sufficient to make a gentle current, thereby adding the living beauty and force of motion to the broad expanse of a lake-like surface, that surface itself diversified and relieved by the pleasant islands, large and small, which are scattered over it. Eddying into every quiet bay, coquetting with every salient angle, moving to the melody of its own murmurs, it flows on serenely and musically.

But after a time this holiday journey is interrupted. A fearful change takes place. The careless waters are hurried down a long and sharp descent, over the rough, denuded, bowlder-studded bed-rock of the stream. Breaking and bounding, surging and resurging, flashing and foaming, rushing fiercely upon some huge bowlder, recoiling an instant, then madly leaping entirely over it, rushing on to others huger still, then breaking wildly around them, the troubled waters hurry on until, culminating in their sublimest aspect, they plunge sheer downward in the grandest of cataracts.

And now the scene and the effect it produces on the beholder both change. The rapids are beautiful; the falls are grand; those are exhilarating, these are inspiring; those are noisy, turbulent, fickle; these are calm, resistless, inexorable.

After the water has made the final plunge over the precipice the cataract acquires its most impressive characteristics; the majestic monotone, the bow, the cloud, which is its veil by night, its crowning glory and beauty by day. The combinations of grandeur and beauty have reached their climax in the fall, the foam, the voice, the spray, the bow.

The Rapids above the Falls

The chasm of the river from the Falls to Lewiston will be sufficiently described in treating of the geology of the district. From Lewiston to Lake Ontario, seven miles, the waters of the river flow on through an elevated and fertile plain, in a strong, calm, majestic current, smiling with dimples and reversed in occasional eddies, but neither broken by rapids nor impeded by islands. Finally it is lost in the lake, after passing an immense bar formed by the enormous mass of sedimentary matter carried down by its own current. The landscape, as seen from the top of the terrace above Lewiston, is one of the finest and most extensive of its peculiar character which can be found on the continent, all its features being such as appertain to a broad, open country.

The visitor at Niagara, as he looks at the Falls, will have a profounder appreciation of their magnitude by considering that it requires the water drainage of a quarter of a continent to sustain them, and that the remoter springs, which send to them their constant tribute, are more than twelve hundred miles distant.

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