A monstrous cantle has been worn back out
of the center of the rock, so that the fury of the waters
converges; and the spectator, as he gazes into the hollow with
wishful eyes, fancies that he can hardly trace out the center of
the abyss.
Go down to the end of that wooden bridge, seat yourself on the
rail, and there sit till all the outer world is lost to you. There
is no grander spot about Niagara than this. The waters are
absolutely around you. If you have that power of eye-contrio which
is so necessary to the full enjoyment of scenery, you will see
nothing but the water. You will certainly hear nothing else; and
the sound, I beg you to remember, is not an ear-cracking, agonizing
crash and clang of noises, but is melodious and soft withal, though
loud as thunder. It fills your ears, and, as it were, envelops
them, but at the same time you can speak to your neighbor without
an effort. But at this place, and in these moments, the less of
speaking, I should say, the better. There is no grander spot than
this. Here, seated on the rail of the bridge, you will not see the
whole depth of the fall. In looking at the grandest works of
nature, and of art too, I fancy it is never well to see all. There
should be something left to the imagination, and much should be
half concealed in mystery. The greatest charm of a mountain range
is the wild feeling that there must be strange, unknown, desolate
worlds in those far-off valleys beyond. And so here, at Niagara,
that converging rush of waters may fall down, down at once into a
hell of rivers, for what the eye can see. It is glorious to watch
them in their first curve over the rocks. They come green as a
bank of emeralds, but with a fitful, flying color, as though
conscious that in one moment more they would be dashed into spray
and rise into air, pale as driven snow. The vapor rises high into
the air, and is gathered there, visible always as a permanent white
cloud over the cataract; but the bulk of the spray which fills the
lower hollow of that horseshoe is like a tumult of snow. This you
will not fully see from your seat on the rail. The head of it
rises ever and anon out of that caldron below, but the caldron
itself will be invisible. It is ever so far down - far as your own
imagination can sink it. But your eyes will rest full upon the
curve of the waters. The shape you will be looking at is that of a
horseshoe, but of a horseshoe miraculously deep from toe to heel;
and this depth becomes greater as you sit there. That which at
first was only great and beautiful becomes gigantic and sublime,
till the mind is at loss to find an epithet for its own use. To
realize Niagara, you must sit there till you see nothing else than
that which you have come to see. You will hear nothing else, and
think of nothing else. At length you will be at one with the
tumbling river before you. You will find yourself among the waters
as though you belonged to them. The cool, liquid green will run
through your veins, and the voice of the cataract will be the
expression of your own heart. You will fall as the bright waters
fall, rushing down into your new world with no hesitation and with
no dismay; and you will rise again as the spray rises, bright,
beautiful, and pure. Then you will flow away in your course to the
uncompassed, distant, and eternal ocean.
When this state has been reached and has passed away, you may get
off your rail and mount the tower. I do not quite approve of that
tower, seeing that it has about it a gingerbread air, and reminds
one of those well-arranged scenes of romance in which one is told
that on the left you turn to the lady's bower, price sixpence; and
on the right ascend to the knight's bed, price sixpence more, with
a view of the hermit's tomb thrown in. But nevertheless the tower
is worth mounting, and no money is charged for the use of it. It
is not very high, and there is a balcony at the top on which some
half dozen persons may stand at ease. Here the mystery is lost,
but the whole fall is seen. It is not even at this spot brought so
fully before your eye, made to show itself in so complete and
entire a shape, as it will do when you come to stand near to it on
the opposite or Canadian shore. But I think that it shows itself
more beautifully. And the form of the cataract is such that here,
on Goat Island, on the American side, no spray will reach you,
although you are absolutely over the waters. But on the Canadian
side, the road as it approaches the fall is wet and rotten with
spray, and you, as you stand close upon the edge, will be wet also.
The rainbows as they are seen through the rising cloud - for the
sun's rays as seen through these waters show themselves in a bow,
as they do when seen through rain - are pretty enough, and are
greatly loved. For myself, I do not care for this prettiness at
Niagara. It is there, but I forget it, and do not mind how soon it
is forgotten.
But we are still on the tower; and here I must declare that though
I forgive the tower, I cannot forgive the horrid obelisk which has
latterly been built opposite to it, on the Canadian side, up above
the fall; built apparently - for I did not go to it - with some
camera-obscura intention for which the projector deserves to be put
in Coventry by all good Christian men and women.
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