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what is now their edges, and tumbled | how far has this recession gone? At down the lower faces of the barriers. what point did the ledge which thus conAlmost every valley in Switzerland fur- tinually creeps backwards begin its retronishes examples of this kind; the unten- grade course? To minds disciplined in able hypothesis of earthquakes, once so such researches the answer has been and readily resorted to in accounting for these will be, at the precipitous declivity which gorges, being now for the most part crossed the Niagara from Lewiston on abandoned. To produce the Cañons of the American to Queenston on the CanaWestern America no other cause is need-dian side. Over this transverse barrier ed than the integration of effects individually infinitesimal.

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the united affluents of all the upper lakes once poured their waters, and here the work of erosion began. The dam, moreover, was demonstrably of sufficient height to cause the river above it to submerge Goat Island; and this would perfectly account for the finding by Mr. Hall, Sir Charles Lyell, and others, in the sand and gravel of the island, the same fluviatile shells as are now found in the Niag

And now we come to Niagara. Soon after Europeans had taken possession of the country, the conviction appears to have arisen that the deep channel of the river Niagara below the falls had been excavated by the cataract. In Mr. Bakewell's Introduction to Geology," the prevalence of this belief has been referred to: it is expressed thus by Professor Jo-ara river higher up. It would also acseph Henry in the Transactions of the Albany Institute: "In viewing the position of the falls and the features of the couutry round, it is impossible not to be impressed with the idea that this great natural raceway has been formed by the continued action of the irresistible Niagara, and that the falls, beginning at Lewiston, have, in the course of ages, worn back the rocky strata to their present site." The same view is advocated by Sir Charles Lyell, by Mr. Hall, by M. Agassiz, by Professor Ramsay, indeed by almost all of those who have inspected the place.

count for those deposits along the sides of the river, the discovery of which enabled Lyell, Hall, and Ramsay to reduce to demonstration the popular belief that the Niagara once flowed through a shallow valley.

The physics of the problem of excava tion, which I made clear to my mind before quitting Niagara, are revealed by a close inspection of the present Horseshoe Fall. Here we see evidently that the greatest weight of water bends over the very apex of the Horseshoe. In a passage in his excellent chapter on Niag A connected image of the origin and ara Falls, Mr. Hall alludes to this fact. progress of the cataract is easily obtained. Here we have the most copious and the Walking northward from the village of most violent whirling of the shattered Niagara Falls by the side of the river, we liquid; here the most powerful eddies rehave to our left the deep and compara- coil against the shale. From this portively narrow gorge through which the tion of the fall, indeed, the spray someNiagara flows. The bounding cliffs of times rises without solution of continuity this gorge are from 300 to 350 feet high. to the region of clouds, becoming graduWe reach the whirlpool, tend to the ally more attenuated, and passing finally north-east, and after a little time gradu- through the condition of true cloud into ally resume our northward course. Fi-invisible vapour, which is sometimes renally, at about seven miles from the pres- precipitated higher up. All the phenoment Falls, we come to the edge of a de-ena point distinctly to the centre of the clivity which informs us that we have been hitherto walking on table-land. Some hundreds of feet below us is a comparatively level plain, which stretches to Lake Ontario. The declivity marks the end of the precipitous gorge of the Niag

ara.

Here the river escapes from its steep mural boundaries, and in a widened bed pursues its way to the lake which finally receives its waters.

The fact that in historic times, even within the memory of man, the fall has sensibly receded, prompts the question,

Quoted by Bakewell.

river as the place of greatest mechanical energy, and from the centre the vigour of the Fall gradually dies away towards the sides. The horseshoe form, with the concavity facing downwards, is an obvious and necessary consequence of this action. Right along the middle of the river the apex of the curve pushes its way backwards, cutting along the centre a deep and comparatively narrow groove, and draining the sides as it passes them.

In the discourse of which this paper is a report, the excavation of the centre and drainage of the sides was illustrated by a model devised by my assistant, Mr. John Cottrell.

Hence the remarkable discrepancy between the widths of the Niagara above and below the Horseshoe. All along its course, from Lewiston Heights to its present position, the form of the Fall was probably that of a horseshoe; for this is merely the expression of the greater depth, and consequently greater excavating power, of the centre of the river. The gorge, moreover, varies in width as the depth of the centre of the ancient river varied, being narrowest where that depth was greatest.

sounding of the present river would enable us to predict the course to be pursued by the erosion in the future.

But not only has the Niagara river cut the gorge; it has carried away the chips of its own workshop. The shale being probably crumpled is easily carried away. But at the base of the fall we find the huge boulders already described, and by some means or other these are removed down the river. The ice which fills the gorge in winter, which grapples with the boulders, has been regarded as the transporting agent. Probably it is so to some extent. But erosion acts without ceasing on the abutting points of the boulders, thus withdrawing their support and urging them gradually down the river. Solution also does its portion of the work. That solid matter is carried down is proved by the difference of depth between the Niagara river and Lake Ontario, where the river enters it. The depth falls from seventy-two feet to twenty feet, in consequence of the deposition of solid matter caused by the diminished motion of the river.*

The vast comparative erosive energy of the Horseshoe Fall comes strikingly into view when it and the American Fall are compared together. The American branch of the upper river is cut at a right angle by the gorge of the Niagara. Here the Horseshoe Fall was the real excavator. It cut the rock and formed the precipice over which the American Fall tumbles. But since its formation, the erosive action of the American Fall has been almost nil, while the Horseshoe has cut its way for 500 yards across the end of Goat Island, and is now doubling back to excavate a channel parallel to the length of the island. This point, I have just learned, has not escaped the acute observation of Professor Ramsay.* The river bends; the Horseshoe immediately accommodates itself to the bending, and will follow implicitly the direction of the deepest water in the upper stream. The flexibility of the gorge, if I may use the term, is determined by the flexibility of the river channel above it. Were the Niagara above the Fall sinuous, the gorge would obediently follow its sinuosities. Once suggested, no doubt geographers will be able to point out many ex-ican Fall will then be transformed into a amples of this action. The Zambesi is dry precipice, forming a simple continuathought to present a great difficulty to the tion of the cliffy boundary of the Niagara. erosion theory, because of the sinuosity At the place occupied by the fall at this of the chasm below the Victoria Falls. moment we shall have the gorge enBut assuming the basalt to be of tolerably closing a right angle, a second whirlpool uniform texture, had the river been ex-being the consequence of this. To those amined before the formation of this sinuous channel, the present zigzag course of the gorge below the Fall could, I am persuaded, have been predicted, while the

His words are:- "Where the body of water is small in the American Fall, the edge has only receded a few yards (where most eroded) during the time that the Canadian Fall has receded from the north corner of

Goat Island to the innermost curve of the Horseshoe
Fall."Quarterly Journal of Geological Society,
May 1859.

In conclusion, we may say a word regarding the proximate future of Niagara. At the rate of excavation assigned to it by Sir Charles Lyell, namely, a foot a year, five thousand years or so will carry the Horseshoe Fall far higher than Goat Island. As the gorge recedes it will drain, as it has hitherto done, the banks right and left of it, thus leaving a nearly level terrace between Goat Island and the edge of the gorge. Higher up it will totally drain the American branch of the river; the channel of which in due time will become cultivable land. The Amer

who visit Niagara a few millenniums hence I leave the verification of this prediction. All that can be said is, that if the causes now in action continue to act, it will prove itself literally true.

JOHN TYNDALL.

Near the mouth of the gorge at Queenston, the depth, according to the Admiralty Chart, is 180 feet; well within the gorge it is 132 feet.

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that Leo was making a first effort to overcome them. Never before had he so resolutely determined to seem satisfied with society which inexpressibly bored him; never had he so striven to avoid showing the dislike in which he held Mallett and its people.

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DURING the next month, scarcely a day My dear girl," he would say to Hero, passed without Leo devoting some por- "I could live a hermit's life here with tion of it to Hero; apparently never hap-you, alone, and always with me; but this py except he was in her society, and in truth, his love for her had during this time grown so rapidly, that it threatened to overcome the selfishness and false pride which were the predominant evils of his character. Each time he left her, he declared to himself that she was far sweeter, and more lovable, than he had dreamed it possible for woman to be; and he asked himself if, after all, in spite of lack of means, they might not contrive to be supremely happy.

This increase of love made him far more attentive and devoted than he had ever yet been, notwithstanding which Hero was depressed and her spirits variable. As long as they were alone, Leo was perfect; but let them join their friends, and the faults, to which Hero could no longer be blind, would come to the surface, and jar against her generous nature. To sit thinking of the time when she should be Leo's wife, was no longer the unruffled dream of happiness it had once been; and when Alice Joslyn confided to her that Norman Randall had asked her to wait for him, so that perhaps after all she and Hero might both be married about the same time, in the midst of her good wishes, Hero broke suddenly down, and though she declared her tears were tears of joy, there was an unaccountable feeling of sadness respecting her own future.

The torch of hope which had once burnt so brightly seemed now extinguished.

But whence came this change? Perhaps, because she resolutely refused to admit to herself that her depression arose from any other cause than not feeling well, Hero never asked herself a question, the answer to which it would have been difficult to solve.

set of old fogies, with their long-winded advice and stories about things they know nothing about, is more than I can stand. The world! what do they know about the world? Their idea of having seen the world is being stationed at the Cape, or China, or having a bout of four years or so on the coast, looking after the slave trade; and they set to work to tell me what to do. One thing I can tell them; that after I get the good fortune to call a certain little girl my own, it's very little I shall trouble Mallett or them."

"And yet, Leo, I should be very sorry to leave Mallett. Why, you forget that we have lived here all our lives - ever since we were little children."

"Well, I don't know that it recommends itself much to my regard on that account. I detest that way they have of coming up with, 'Oh, Mr. Despard, I recollect you as a boy, sir, at Mallett.' I could say, 'I'm sorry your memory is so sharp.'"

"But you always help a Mallett man, Leo?"

"Yes, help him on to another regiment as soon as possible," said Leo, laughing. "You know, darling," he added, seeing that Hero was not quite pleased, "it's different if a fellow's a great swell; then he likes the men to know all about him and his people. Oh, Hero! why can't I change places with some I know? Such fools, but heirs to estates as big as all Mallett put together; it's no wonder that I kick against the want of money."

"And yet," said Hero, hesitating whether she should give her authority, "rich people are not always so very happy. Sir Stephen told me that he knew those who, with all they could possibly wish for, were perfectly miserable."

By hard speeches and little acts of as- "Ah yes! just the rubbish a man like sertion and selfishness, trivial and unno- that would talk. Let him try my beggarly ticed by himself, Leo had gradually be-pittance, and ther see what he'd say." trayed his real disposition; and, though Hero loved him still, the bloom of love was rubbed off and destroyed for ever.

By one of those not unfrequent freaks of fate, it happened that Hero's eyes were opened to these faults at the very time

"But Sir Stephen is not rich. He says himself that he is comparatively a poor

man.

"Comparatively!" echoed Leo scornfully, "but who does he draw his compar'ison with? Some fellow who has as many

thousands a year as I have pounds. I would not mind that kind of poverty. Tell him I'll readily change places with him." Then pausing for an instant, he broke out: "Oh! if Fortune would but turn her wheel in my direction, how happy we'd be. Wouldn't I make you dress, Hero; and we'd have such a stunning turn-out; that all the men I know would turn blue, and the women yellow."

Hero laughed at this picture of felicity —one of the many which Leo was always conjuring up-though, as she said, what was the good of sighing after things they should never possess? Better far to think of themselves as they would really be.

But Leo could see no pleasure in contemplating any picture of happiness which was not set in a gilded frame; and so frequently and openly did he give his opinions, that even the Captain, lenient as he was, began to shake his head, saying that he must give Master Leo a hint to draw in his horns a little when Sir Stephen came.

"I know him," he would say, "and know that he doesn't mean half he says. But with those who do not, he lets that red rag of his run at too many knots an hour; and you know Sir Stephen might be able to give him a leg up with his promotion, so I want him to make a good impression-eh, Hero?"

Hero nodded her head in assent, although she felt inwardly certain that the two men would never be friends. Formerly she had looked forward to the time when they would meet, and be mutually pleased with each other; now, she was almost relieved that before the 14th of August, the date fixed for Sir Stephen's arrival, Leo would have left to keep his engagement in the North.

The 14th of August was a busy day at Mallett; for the village determined that this time it would not be behindhand in its welcome to Sir Stephen. According ly, arches were erected, flags waved, and garlands hung all along the road, from the turnpike gate to the entrance to Combe, giving to the place such a gala aspect that Mrs. Prescott could not help her motherly heart warming towards a people with such ready appreciation of her dear son, who at Pamphillon was not quite so popular as she knew he deserved to be. Sir Stephen, too, was in high spirits, and had been so during the whole journey, vividly recalling to Mrs. Labou

chere's mind the Stephen of days gone by, when he was wont to enter with (what she then contemptuously termed) boyish ardour into very simple pleasures and amusements. But things were changed with Katherine, and now she hailed whatever savoured of the happy past.

At Combe gates stood a knot of Mallett men, who, with Joe Bunce at their head, had just taken the liberty of running up to lend a hand with the traps. Inside they found Captain Carthew waiting to say a few words of welcome, and the old sailor's air of devotion and courtesy immediately won Mrs. Prescott, who presented him to her niece as their nearest neighbour and Stephen's great friend.

"And upon my veracity," said the Captain, as an hour or so later he retailed the minutiae of the interview for Hero's benefit, "I don't know that I ever set eyes upon a more lovely woman."

"Is she fair or dark?" asked Hero, interested at once in Mrs. Labouchere, to the exclusion of everything else.

"Fair as the lily, and beauteous as the rose," quoted the Captain; "and I expect, between you and me and the doorpost, I'm not far out in taking her to be the future Lady Prescott."

"I am longing to see her. I do hope they will like the place, papa."

"They seemed delighted with it. By the way, Sir Stephen sent his love to you, and said he should run down and see you."

"His love, papa?"

"Well, something of the sort. I'm not so sure that I did not give him yours. I rather fancy he expected that you would have been with me."

"I did not like to go, as I do not know Mrs. Prescott yet. I am sure I wanted to be there. Hark, papa!" she exclaimed, as a sound on the gravel announced some one's approach. Perhaps that is he;" and she ran out upon the flat in front of the open window. "Yes, it is. Oh, Sir Stephen, how good of you to come so soon! I am so glad to see you."

"Then, why were you not at Combe to meet us?" he asked reproachfully.

Hero did not give her reason.

"I was looking out for you," she said; "I went up to Tilly Mound quite an hour before you came to watch for the carriage."

Then I suppose I must forgive you, but I am very impatient for my mother to know you. Will you walk back with me, and be introduced to her?'

“What, now, do you mean?" "Yes, if it is not too far. I will bring her back safely," he added, turning to Captain Carthew, who nodded a pleased acquiescence.

But shall I do as I am?" demanded Hero, looking down at her plain muslin dress.

"Perfectly, I want you to be just as you

are."

"Then, wait until I get my hat; " and in a few minutes after the two were on their way towards Combe.

"Papa tells me that you have another lady with you your cousin, I think. He says she is lovely."

"She is generally considered handsome," said Sir Stephen, almost unconsciously assuming an air of profound indifference. "Don't you think her so?" asked Hero, beginning to have some doubts as to her father's romantic surmises being cor

rect.

"Yes; but she is not nearly as goodlooking now as she was before she married."

"Oh, is she married?"

"How inconsistent men are! Who could have supposed (knowing how fatigued and wholly unprepared to see visitors we both were), that Stephen would have brought a strange young lady to call upon us? At least, Miss Carthew ought to have known better than to come at such an unreasonable time."

No sign, however, of this disapprobation was betrayed in the manner in which Hero was received. On the contrary, Mrs. Prescott said it was very kind of Miss Carthew to give her such an early opportunity of making her acquaintance, and of thanking her for the hospitality she and Captain Carthew had shown to her son during his former visit to Mallett. She hoped she had not found them looking dreadfully untidy, for they had really not felt equal to any dressing, and were trying to rest a little before dinner.

"You must stay and dine with us," said Sir Stephen, to his mother's unutterable dismay.

"Oh, no! I thank you," replied Hero; while Mrs. Prescott, feeling bound to say something, faintly murmured about being very pleased, if Miss Carthew did not

"She married years ago, and is now a mind their being in a little confusion. widow."

"Poor thing! how very sad!”

"My mother almost brought her up; she and I were quite children together." "Then you must be very fond of each other, of course."

"Well, I do not know about the 'of course,' "" said Sir Stephen, laughing. "After her marriage she lived entirely abroad, and we saw nothing of each other. Since her widowhood, and while I was out of England, she has been a great companion to my mother, by whose wish she has come here. When I said how much boating I intended having, my mother seemed a little nervous about being dull here, if she was alone; for I do not suppose we shall get her often on the water. I am longing for a sail. I wish we could go this evening, but I suppose that would be high treason to Mrs. Tucker's preparations. Never mind, to-morrow we must have one. You see the result of spoiling. I intend to monopolize you in the old way."

Hero did not answer except by a sign, which pleased Sir Stephen more than words would have done. How could he tell that her blushes arose from a consciousness that he ought to know about Leo?

As Mrs. Prescott afterwards remarked to Mrs. Labouchere

"Thank you very much," said Hero, who felt that somehow it would have been better had she stayed away, "but I have had my dinner. I dined in the middle of the day."

"ThenI know you are quite able to eat another dinner now," said Sir Stephen, nettled into a greater show of cordiality by not being satisfied with his mother's reception of Hero.

"Sir Stephen! indeed, it is too bad to proclaim my country appetite! Thank you, but I am obliged to decline," she added, turning to Mrs. Prescott; "I must return almost immediately. I told papa I should not be away long."

"I hope that both you and your papa will give us the pleasure of your company at dinner very soon," said Mrs. Prescott.

"Why not fix the day now, mother?" put in Sir Stephen. "If Miss Carthew has no engagement for to-morrow, you have none.'

Poor Mrs. Prescott tried to smile, and say cordially, “No, I shall be most happy." As for Hero, she had seldom felt more awkwardly placed. She hardly knew how best to act. She feared to appear unwilling to come, and yet it seemed as if Sir' Stephen were forcing her upon

his mother.

"I am not able to say yes," she said, "because papa may be going to Dock

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