NOTE 21.-PAGE 57.

The WHIRLPOOL of Niagara, next to the Falls them. selves, is an object of interest worthy of more attention than is usually given to it by visitors in general. It is found at a distance of three miles from the Cataract, where the river makes an acute angle in its course, turning to the right, and boils within a narrower compass than in any other spot, the distance from rock to rock not exceeding two hundred and twenty-five feet. The current of the river here runs with such fierce velocity, that it rises up in the middle ten feet above the sides. On the surface of this whirling vortex are often seen "the ruins of forest floating round, marking out to the eye the outline of that fatal circle. These yellow logs and trunks, grinding against each other, dip and rise, following on in ceaseless round until they waste away in this their winding-sheet. Occasionally some are thrown out, and are borne along in a circuitous route to the rapids, which commence at the outlet of the whirlpool; a few find a resting-place on the beach, where they present many very grotesque forms, some resembling the boomareng of the New Hollander, others cimeters, rolling-pins, and the like." (Silliman's Journal.) This ever-agitated flood is walled in by a circle of lofty cliffs that, at some points, seem to surround it so completely as not to afford any egress, and one would suppose, at first sight, that the tumultuous torrent had its outlet below. The whirlpool is formed of an infinite number of eddies and vortices, continually advancing and receding,

with fluctuating courses and shapes, in which respects it differs from the great Maëlstrom of Norway, which is described by an American Captain, who once navigated a ship from the North Cape to Drontheim, as "an immense circle running round, of a diameter of one and a half miles, the velocity increasing as it approximated towards the centre, and gradually changing its dark blue color to white-foaming, tumbling, rushing to its vortex, very much concave, as much so as the water in a funnel, when half run out."

NOTE 22.-PAGE 61.

"his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet."-Nahum i. 3.

NOTE 23.-PAGE 66.

"The return of the new moons was announced by the sounding of the silver trumpets (Num. x. 2, 10; xxviii. 11-14); and in this way provision was made for keeping up a knowledge of the end and commencement of each month."—Jahn's Archæology.

"The new moon was always the beginning of the month, and this day they called Neomenia, new-moon day, or new month. They did not begin it from that point of time when the moon was in conjunction with the sun, but from the time at which she became visible after that conjunction. And to determine this, it is said, they had people posted on elevated places to inform the Sanhedrim as

soon as possible. Proclamation was then made,

The

Feast of the new moon! The feast of the new moon!' and

the beginning of the month was proclaimed by sound of trumpets."-Calmet's Dictionary.

NOTE 24.-PAGE 68.

"About fifteen years since, in the glow of early summer, a young stranger, of pleasing countenance and person, made his appearance at Niagara. It was at first conjectured that he might be an artist, as a large portfolio, with books and musical instruments, were observed among his baggage. He was deeply impressed by the majesty and sublimity of the Cataract, and its surrounding scenery, and expressed an intention to remain a week, that he might examine it accurately. But the fascination which all minds of sensibility feel, in the presence of that glorious work of the Creator, grew strongly upon him, and he was heard to say, that six weeks were inadequate to become acquainted with its outlines.

"At the end of that period, he was still unable to tear himself away, and desired to build there a tabernacle,' that he might indulge both in his love of solitary musings and of nature's sublimity. He applied for a spot upon the island of the Three Sisters,' where he might construct a cottage after his own model, which comprised, among other peculiarities, isolation by means of a drawbridge. Circumstances forbidding a compliance with his request, he took up his residence in an old house upon

this island, which he rendered as comfortable as the state of the case would admit. Here he continued about twenty months, until the intrusion of a family interrupted his recluse habits. He then quietly withdrew, and reared for himself a less commodious shelter, near Prospect Point. His simple and favorite fare of bread and milk was readily purchased, and whenever he required other food, he preferred to prepare it with his own hands.

"When bleak winter came, a cheerful fire of wood blazed upon his hearth, and by his evening lamp he beguiled the hours with the perusal of books in various languages, and with sweet music. It was almost surprising to hear, in such depth of solitude, the long-drawn, ⚫ thrilling tones of the viol, or the softest melodies of the flute, gushing forth from that low-browed hut, or the guitar, breathing out so lightly, amid the rush and thunder of the never-slumbering tide.

66

Yet, though the world of letters was familiar to his mind, and the living world to his observation, for he had travelled widely, both in his native Europe, and the East, he sought not association with mankind, to unfold or to increase his stores of knowledge. Those who had heard him converse, spoke with surprise and admiration of his colloquial powers, his command of language, and the spirit of eloquence that flowed from his lips. But he seldom and sparingly admitted this intercourse, studiously avoiding society, though there seemed in his nature nothing of moroseness or misanthropy. On the contrary, he showed kindness even to the humblest animal. Birds

instinctively learned it, and freely entered his dwelling, to receive from his hands crumbs or seeds.

"But the absorbing delight of his existence, was communion with the mighty Niagara. Here, at every hour of the day or night, he might be seen a fervent worshipper. At gray dawn he went to visit it in its fleecy veil; at high noon, he banqueted on the full splendor of its glory; beneath the soft tinting of the lunar bow, he lingered, looking for the angel's wing whose pencil had painted it; at solemn midnight, he knelt, soul-subdued, as on the footstool of Jehovah. Neither storms, nor the piercing cold of winter, prevented his visits to this great temple of his adoration.

“When the frozen mists, gathering upon the lofty` trees, seemed to have transmuted them to columns of alabaster; when every branch, and shrub, and spray, glittering with transparent ice, waved in the sunbeam its coronet of diamonds, he gazed, unconscious of the keen atmosphere, charmed and chained by the rainbow-cinctured Cataract. His feet had worn a beaten path from his cottage thither. There was, at that time, an extension of the Terrapin Bridge by a single shaft of timber, carried out ten feet over the fathomless abyss, where it hung tremulously, guarded only by a rude parapet.

"To this point he often passed and repassed, amid the darkness of night. He even took pleasure in grasping it with his hands, and thus suspending himself over the awful gulf; so much had his morbid enthusiasm learned to feel, and even to revel, amid the terribly sublime.