Page:Niagara, a poem - Abraham Moore (1822).djvu/19

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

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.