ROUND THE WORLD.

Thames Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 8602, 5 March 1897, Page 2

ROUND THE WORLD.

(By Mrs H. J. Greenslade.)

SKETCHES FROM MY NOTE-BOOK

Niagara—Station Virw—Goat IslandCare of the Winds - Suspension BridgeCanadian Soil —Curio Shops—The Boneshoe Pall—Lufferin Islands—The Bum. ing Spring—A Xass of name—The Great Whirlpool-" Xaid of the Kist" —Brock Monument—Ontario—Utilising the Falli.

A few days later we were awakened by our gentlemanly waiter thrusting hxs heaa behind the curtains of our Pullman and yelling out: "Do yer want to see the Falls from the station ? Wai, git right up heah ! " We were dressed and ready when the train drew up at the Falls View Station, where the conductor allowed us five minutes to Tiew the great Falls of Niagara. In my opinion this much vaunted view is the poorest obtainable. It leaves a feeling of great disappointment, which is not dispelled until one arrives at a better view point which gives a truer conception of these Falls. Dame Nature must have wished fora masterpiece, and to gratify her desire created Niagara Falls. Surely they are the greatest wonders iv the world's repertoire of great works, and I quite uphold Antony Trollope when he says: "I know of no other thing so beautiful, so glorious, and so powerful." After booking rooms at an hotel, we took a trap and were driven over the small suspension bridge and on to Goat Island. Here you get the best view of the Falls from the American side, where you can see the great sheet of water tumbling over tho rapids, and a moment later hurled in avast body over the parapet, where it recovers itself in swirling eddies and sweeps onward again. Goat Island itself is a charming resort. It contains many pleasant walks and nooks, where the traveller may come and rest his body while his soul drinks in the beauty and grandeur of the scene.

After exhausting the show places of the island, we returned to descend to the Care of the Winds. We were supplied with rubbers and oilskins and taken down by an elevator, and conducted along some perilous looking staging suspended from rock to rock over the boiling mass of water below, and into a cave hewn out from the somewhat soft rock under the great Falls.

Here only do you realise fully the stupendous volume and force of the water as it dashes itself into foam at your feet. Standing under the arch while the river takes its leap of 160 ft over your head, and the awful roar penetrating your whole being, and the angry gusts causing you to cling to the handrail for support, you begin to feel infinitely small aud powerless in comparison with this great work of Nature. No one who has not seen this spectacle of turbulent gnunJewj: can conceive with what force tfcjifc-swift and overwhelming w.&tare are "dwhai against the rocks white purewsg. their

madooonw to the lake. I must confess to a ready acquiescence when the order was given to return to the top, where we arrived panting and exhausted after our fight with the deluging spray. On reaching the summit, we were beguiled by a very polite gentleman into having our photo 3 taken, after which we changed our cumbersome garments and pursued our way to the Suspension Bridge. Thia is a very fine structure supported by two large towers. It was carried away by a gale seven years ago and rebuilt at a cost of nearly 200,000 dollars. For the privilege of crossing, the pedestrian has to pay twenty-five cents., but usually considers the toll small in consequence of the charming view he gets from midway across. If any wind is blowing it catches the spray from the Falls and wafts it hundreds of yards down the river, thus soaking the poor unfortunate who essays to reach the other shore. On arriving on the other side you are informed that you tread on Canadian soil and it certainly looked very inviting. Some ten years ago the State of New York purchased at a great price the property surrounding the Niagara Falls, and has converted it into lovely parks and pleasure grounds and thrown them open to the public free—free as far as the grounds are concerned. But trust the Americans for devising some plan wherewith to wheedle the dollars from his victim's pocket! The traveller always feels for the poor little fly who was invited to inspect the spider's sumptuous parlour, when he enters American show places. Although his life-blood may not be drained, most certainly his pocket is. The whole place is full of curio shops, where you can get all kinds of Indian and other trophies, and are presided over by most fascinating damsels with a keen eye for the dollars, and if they are only fortunate enough to get hold of one of the male sex, he may at once consider himself doomed, and prepare to part with a good round sum with a smiling countenance. While the ladies were changing their costumes prior, to descending to go under the Falls on this side of the river, the gentlemen got into the clutches of some of these enterprising young ladies, and purchased some very pretty handkerchief baskets, for each of which they contributed one dollar and a half. But great was theit chagrin when parading their treasure! to be informed by tha ladies that we had just bought some exactly'like them for seventy-five cents—-just hall what they had been deluded into pay* ing! They had to stand a fair amount of ridicule, and somehow did not appear eager to visit any more cariosity shops. The pew of the falls from the Canadian side is undeniably the finest. II is only here that you can get a perfect view of the Horseshoe, the finest falL The contour is somewhat marred now by some of the rock which formed the crescent having fallen away, thus making one corner irregular. ::s Over this work continuously played the lovely hues of the rainbow, sometimes distinct, sometimes a confused mass but always soft and harmonious. From this standpoint, the scene looks unsurpassingly grand, and the name Niagara—"Thunder of waters"— seems doubly appropriate. The concussion of the falling waters with those below produces a spray which veils the cataract half way up. Above this impenetrable foam to the height of 50 feet .above the fall rises a cloud of lighter * spray, appearing like a guardian angel over its mighty parent. We descended by an elevator again and traversed the shiny pathway over the rocks and through a tunnel, and again under the Falls. This time, although the roar of the waters was deafening and the spray a young cataract itself, the experience was not so awe-inspiring or weird as that in the Cave of the Winds. Leaving the main falls for a while we pass on to the Dufferin Islands where the rapids in full force above falls can bo seen. The islands are provided with many lovely retreats, through which we passed*, and arrived at a small wooden structure and wore informed that it held the sacred burning spring. This is a truly wonderful thing. It is supposed to have been discovered by Indians three hundred years ago and by them worshipped as a god of fire, and always used before going to battle as a means of preserving them from their enemies. Its water is in appearance exactly like some of the springs of Rotorua, and when a match ' is applied, it blazes most fiercely. It! does not burn cloth, but will blacken silver, and the heat from it is intense. If only one of Botorua's springs could be converted into a like attraction it would well repay anj r necessary outlay.

We drove bick to the restaurant i: the Park, had lunch, and then took th .electric car and proceeded down dangerous looking road skirting th Falls and Rapids, and on to the Grea Whirlpool. This is caused by th river taking an abrupt turn, makinj almost a right angle, and the tremen dous force of water dashing againt the shore has worn a huge basin Around this basin the waters flow ii great agitation, while the fallen tree and debris dash furiously about rainb seeking a place of egress. . . : It was in the rapids just above thi whirlpool that Captain Webb met hi death while trying to swim across We were shown the stone off which h< is said to hare plunged, and the rod against which he is supposed to hav< been dashed. Here also we saw the brave littl< steamer, the "Maidof the Mist," ply ing her way merrily through, the seething waters. She runs right to the foot of the Falls, and at times « completely obscured from sight by the spray. We passed along the brink for some distance, and then descended the hill which leads to Queenstown, on the to]: of which stands a monument erected by the Prince of Wales to the memory of General Brock, killed in the war of 1812. The monument is nearly 200 ft. high, and the top can be reached by a spiral stairway, from where a good panorama of the country can be got. Here you can see Lake Ontario and all the beautiful uouutry surrounding it, while Niagara, no longer the mad seething torrent, slowly and majestically, as though tired with its struggle for liberty, wends its way to the lake. Arriving at Queenstown, which is a very old town, and full of historic interest, Are were rowed across the river in a small boat to Jewistown— a very quaint spot, where tourists come fer their fishing sport, and took the American car, and rode back to Niagara. The inhabitants are much troubled just now by the question of utilising Niagara for motive power for electricity. The local bodies stood out manfully against what they termed a "vandal project." The President of the Board said that "the probability of serious damage to the sublime spectacle should far outweigh considerations for private pecuniary advantage." How» ever, dollars, as usual, carried the day,. and Niagara has been sacrificed, the despoilers glorying in their work, one

[of them in his statement saying that " Niagara's centuries of idle splashing must now be atoned for by useful I service."

Poor Niagara! Like some young cult who has gambolled at will, it must now bo broken in and harnessed to useful work Buffalo lias already been furnished with electricity from this vast source, and I thiuk it could provide for several other cities, and still be Niagara.