Page:Floating City (1904).djvu/251

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A FLOATING CITY.
189

"Ah," my dear friend!" cried I, "you will cure her; but where are Fabian and his betrothed?"

"Look!" said Corsican, and he pointed towards the shore of the Niagara.

In the direction indicated by the Captain I saw Fabian, who had not yet noticed us. He was standing on a rock, and a few feet in front of him sat Ellen perfectly motionless, Fabian watching her all the time. This spot on the left bank is known by the name of "Table Rock." It is a kind of rocky promontory jutting out into the river, which roars at a distance of four hundred feet below. Formerly it was more extensive, but the crumbling away of large pieces of rock has now reduced it to a surface a few yards square.

Ellen seemed absorbed in speechless ecstasy. From this place the aspect of the Falls is "most sublime," as say the guides, and they are right. It gives a view of two cataracts; on the right the "Canadian Fall," the crest of which, crowned with vapours, shuts in the horizon on one side, like the horizon of the sea. In front is the "American Fall," and above, the elegant village of Niagara Falls, half hidden in the trees; on the left, the whole perspective of the river flowing rapidly between its high banks, and below the torrent struggling against the overthrown icebergs.

Corsican, the Doctor, and I went towards Table Rock,