226 DANGEROUS PATHS. I had met her with her "caro sposo" in the most impervious part of the forest. She gave me a most interesting and naïve account of the impression that Niagara, from whence she had just arrived, had produced upon her. After dinner I returned to the Falls, and again reviewed those points which I had most admired in my morning's excursion; and I followed Captain O by a very perilous path, which he said led to the bridge, but which soon brought us to the brink of a yawning gulf. I began to ruminate and the captain to sketch, until the approach of twilight warned us to be off. Major B and Captain O- went in the morning to Boon's Bridge, and gave me a very interesting account of the dangerous path over which they had passed, and which none but themselves have attempted this year. They were told that it is five years any lady has attempted it. since SWIMMING AT THE FAlls. 227 Captain O is a most excellent swimmer; the evening was sultry, and as we walked along the side of this most deceptive river, Major B and myself had the greatest difficulty to dissuade him from entering its rushing and destructive stream. A day spent at Trenton Falls is one which can never be effaced from the memory. Adieu. T LETTER XIX. Trenton Falls Hotel-Geological Specimtens-Log- MY DEAR S Auburn, Sept. 9, 1840. Never in my life did I quit any place with more regret than Trenton Falls this morning. It is one of those spots which a man falls in love with, and fancies he would be delighted to pass all the remainder of his days there. The situation of the hotel is singularly beautiful: it has a dense wood in its rear, which comes up close to it, and which no sun can penetrate; you have the noise of the rushing waters in the distance A BUNGLING ANGLER. 229 to soothe you; the gardens and shrubberies are delightful; and the tree-covered hills 'which surround you are now beginning to put on their autumn tints; whilst the variegated contour of the more distant mountains completes the grandeur and beauty of the scene. Before breakfast I walked to the mill-dam and the pretty little fall formed by it, and watched for some time a sad bungler in the sublime art of Izaak Walton. I regretted at the moment that I had not brought my rod and tackle, that I might have given him a lesson; but one can't do every thing; neither did I intend my tour to be a sporting one: had such been my intention, I might have been present yesterday at the Delafield races, which took place about five miles from Trenton; but the mountain-road to it was execrable, and we all agreed that the wild woods and sequestered dells of Trenton were worth a hundred race-courses. 230 A LARGE TRILOBITE. The very civil and intelligent landlord at the Falls has a most choice collection of the minerals and petrifactions which are found in abundance in the neighbourhood. The specimen which he chiefly values is a trilobite of the largest class, and in a most perfect state, and for which he had been offered 150 dollars; but for the honour of his house he has refused to part with it until he could obtain another equally large and perfect. It resembles a land tortoise or sea crab, and was found in blasting the rock to widen the path by the side of the river. Tearing ourselves away from Trenton, we were jolted over a rough road back to Utica, where the worthy hotel keeper, Mr. Baggs, and his family, shook hands with us " up to the elbows," with all the cordiality of old friends. This is the fashion in America, and I like it well, when it is followed up, as it generally is, with real attention and kind ness. |