Niagara. A Poem/Notes
NOTES.
a Thy sea-green Naiads.
The colour of the falling water at Niagara, though of course perfectly fresh, is a beautiful sea-green.
b Through many a stormy lake, etc.
The river Niagara, which supplies the falls, may be traced through many lakes, and particularly lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie, the former about 1600, and each of the two latter about 800, miles in circumference. About fourteen miles below the falls it empties itself into Lake Ontario, but little inferior in dimensions to Lake Erie.
c And well-fought field.
This river, and the lakes through which it flows, being originally a natural, as they are now a conventional boundary, between the American and Canadian territories, have been the scene of many well-known actions between the Indians, French, and English, and between the latter and the United States.
d Th' united flood.
About five miles below lake Erie, the river Niagara is divided into two streams forming an island, called Grand Island, about 12 miles long, and nearly as wide; below which they are re-united into one broad and smooth expanse, which continues about two miles, till it reaches the rapids; down which it runs through reefs of rocks falling about fifty feet in the course of the last mile; it is then again divided by a small island, called Goat Island, and falls on each side of it over the precipices which form the Great Cataracts.
e Ill fares the wretch, &c.
In November, 1821, two men (supposed to be intoxicated) fastened their boat to a wooden bridge across the Chippeway Creek, (which empties itself into the Niagara on the Canadian side, about two miles above the falls,) and fell asleep. By some means, the boat being probably ill-secured, got loose with the men in it, and drifted into the rapids; where they awoke in the greatest agitation, and were hurried over the falls, and lost. A table, which they had on board, was seen a few days after-wards floating down the stream; but neither the boat, nor either of the men has ever been heard of since.
f The Herculean stream.
Alluding not only to the size and strength of the cataract, but to the well-known story of Hercules, who in his last frenzy flung Lichas, his attendant, from the top of Mount Æta, in Greece, into the sea between Locris and Eubæa.—Ovid's Met. lib. 9. l. 211. Milt. Par. Lost, b. 2. l. 544.
g Ontario's ramparts, &c.
Fort George, situated on the Canadian, and Fort Niagara on the American side of the river Niagara, at its entrance into Lake Ontario, distant about fourteen, as its outlet from Lake Erie is about twenty miles from the falls. At both these points their sound is often heard like distant thunder, particularly in calm weather, and in the stillness of the night.
h Tormented cave.
The cataract next to the Canadian shore is nearly in the shape of a horse-shoe, or of the pit of a modern theatre; and if the reader will suppose the water to pour over from the gallery and upper side boxes, one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular, he will have some idea of the shape, but none whatever either of the magnitude or of the noise of this stupendous fall, or of the unapproachable, vast cavern which ingulfs it. Its circuit is about 800 or 900, and its chord about 300 yards, from one point of the horse-shoe to the other.
i Its hoary cloud.
The clouds of spray, which are perpetually hovering over these cataracts, are often seen at Buffaloe on Lake Erie as far as their sound is heard. See Note g.
k Sweet Iris, &c.
Portions of rainbows are often seen at these falls, varying according to the position of the sun. The author saw many, and particularly observed a small segment of one about ten feet high, rising to the upper skirt of the spray-cloud, that sustained it, and resting its lower end upon the surface of the torrent, as if it grew out of the water. In an instant the wind shifted, the vapour was dispersed, and the brilliant image vanished like a spirit.
l The thin and dizzy ledge.
This is a thin plate or slab of rock, projecting from the high bank on the Canadian side, upon a level with, and close by the end of, the horse-shoe fall. It overhangs the base of the cliff, on which it rests, 48 feet; and is the perilous place to which every visiter is conducted, as the most favourable point for viewing the whole, or at least the grandest part, of this indescribable scene.
m Like serpent foul, &c.
See Ovid's Met. lib. 3. l. 48. Pind. Ol. Od. 8. Ep. 2, and Milt. Par. Lost, b. 10. l. 505, and Sequel.
n To yon dark portal.
This is a dark opening formed by the hanging rock, and shooting cataract, in the shape of a lofty gothic arch; under which the author, after several anxious but unsuccessful efforts, was prevented from proceeding more than a few yards, by the violent tempest of wind and rain, which continually issues from it. To account for this singular phenomenon is not easy; it seemed, however, to the author, that the innumerable columns and fragments of air, which are intermingled with, and forced down by the falling water, must necessarily release themselves at the bottom; and that half of them at least must force their way into the passage between the cataract and the rock. Out of this prison they have no other vent but through the vaulted opening, where the author encountered the irresistible storm, which all visitors experience, and the cause of which he is unable to explain upon any other principle.
o The Charon of the nether stream.
After walking down the stream from the horse-shoe cataract on the Canadian side, about half a mile, you are opposite to the cataract on the American side, which is separated from the former by Goat Island. The reader will observe, that the river runs westward towards the falls, and then turns suddenly to the north; so that the line of the falls is almost diagonal across the elbow of the river; and consequently the visitor, after looking at the horse-shoe fall on the Canadian or western side, must go downwards on that side some way before he can be opposite to the cataract on the American side. He then descends from the cliffs near 200 feet to the water's edge, where a single ferryman rows him in a little wherry across the eddying torrent, and lands him just below the latter cataract.
p The glassy plane, etc.
This branch of the cataract breaks off nearly in an even line from the American side towards Goat Island, falls upon a shapeless pile of rocks, that have been precipitated from above, and rushes through their various openings into the lower river.
q 'Scaped their Tarpeian pitch.
It is almost unnecessary to inform the reader, that the Tarpeian rock was the precipice of the Capitol at Rome, over which great criminals were sometimes thrown.
r A cool sequestered isle.
This is Goat Island, consisting of about twenty acres of lofty wood, and belonging to Judge Porter; who has, with great skill and spirit thrown a wooden bridge, resting on 7 or 8 piers, from the American shore to a small island, distant about 600 yards, and from thence another, about one third as long, to Goat Island. To this interesting spot the visiter may now fearlessly resort, and standing on the precipice at its western end, find himself placed between the two cataracts, looking down 160 feet perpendicular upon the nether torrent.
s His shining armoury rears.
Since this little poem was written, the author has observed this expression, of which he was quite unconscious, in Cowper's Task, b. 5. It is, however, used there to introduce a train of thoughts so very different, that he does not feel himself open to the charge of plagiarism in suffering it to remain. The clouds of spray which are always rising from these stupendous falls, are speedily congealed during the winter, and settle on the neighbouring trees, casing the trunks with coats of ice, and hanging the branches with a thousand icicles.
t Back o'er the bridge.
This bold fabric was constructed by protruding long beams of timber horizontally from the bank, and sending out men on the ends, which hung over the water, (and which were counterpoised with heavy weights placed on the ends that rested on the land,) for the purpose of driving piles, or fixing upon a pier of rock for their support. This being accomplished, a second set of beams were protruded in the same manner from the extremity of the first, till a second pier was gained; a third followed, and, by a repetition of the same process, the whole structure was completed.
u Their towering banks, &c.
For the space of about seven miles from the falls to Queenstown, the river, or rather torrent, rushes along between two rows of cliffs, rising to the height of 200 feet; through which during a series of ages it seems to have worn or torn its way. From hence some, with much appearance of reason, have supposed, that the falls were originally at Queenstown, where the level of the country sinks almost suddenly to a flat but a little higher than the surface of the river; and that as the rocky bed of the latter has given way and deepened, the falls have gradually receded to their present site.
v The brooks of Wales, or statelier Clyde.
There are many picturesque and interesting waterfalls in Wales, one at a most romantic place called the Devil's Bridge, falling above 300 feet; but very few of them fall 100 feet, and the streams which supply them are but rivulets or very narrow rivers, the largest not exceeding 50 yards in breadth, and very few of them above twenty. The Clyde in Scotland is a large river for that country, but the fall is not great.
w Anio or Velino.
The celebrated falls of Tivoli, near Rome, upon which so many pencils and pens have been employed, are formed by the descent of the headlong Anio, (Strabo, lib. 6, 364,) as the Cascata del Marmore of Terni is by that of the Velino. See Lord Byron's Childe Harolde, canto 4, stan. 69.
x The slopes of Nile.
Modern travellers inform us, that the cataracts of the Nile are not precipitous, but that they merely pour down a rocky declivity, not much exceeding in steepness some of the rapids of America.
y The Rhodian mould.
Alluding to the celebrated Colossus at Rhodes, a brazen statue of Apollo, 105 feet high.
z A beauteous belt
Meaning the federative principle, by which so many states and territories have been, and so many more may be added to the American union.