The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-09-30
TIE RIVAL oF NIAGARA
The Great Cataract in South America
Nearly Eight HundredFeet Fall
A Column Of Snow White Foam

In the month of April last, a wa
terfan of most unusual hight wa
discovered on the Potaro, tributar,
of the Essequebo River, by Mr.. G
b. Brown of the Geological Surve7
of British Guiana. Being short O
provisions, and at a great distance
from his boats, Mr.. Brown was moi
able to devote more than couple Of
hours to the examination of the falls
which, by hasty barometEical Obser
vations, he found to be nearly 900
feet in hight, the breadth of the riv-
er at the top of the falls being IOC
yards and its depth Is feet. On his
return toGeorgetOwn, in consequence
of the stIong desire expressed by
the community that a careful sur
vey should be made ofthe falls with
out delay, Mr.. Brown was instructed
by the Governor to proceed at once
to the falls for that purpose, accom-
panied by Sir G. Young, Mr.. Charles
Mitchell, and Mr.. King. The result
of their journey is embodied in the
inclosed article, published in De-
merara paper Of the Sd inst, which,
perhaps, you will deem of sufficient
interest to insert in the columns OF
your widely-circulated journal.
Sir George Young gives the fol
lowing detailed description of the
cataract to a Georgetown paper:
Although / am anxious that Mr.,
Brown, as a discoverer of the Great
Kaieteur Fall, and the director to
the successful expedition which we
were permitted to accompany, should
have the telling of his own story, yet
l can understand that his friends in
Georgetown will be anxious to heal
at once of his success. The Fal
has a clear descent, according to bar
ometrical obsers sations taken stimuli
taneously by Mr.. Brown at the bot
tom, and by my colleague, Mr.. Nit
chell, at the top, of 75O feet. Above
the Potaro glides smoothly in
slight depression of the table of con
glomerate sandstone, and disapper.
over the edge in a body which WI
estimated at so yards in width, anC
Of depth uncertain in the center, bu
Swallowing rapidly toward eithel
bank. When Mr.. Brown discovered
the Fall in April, the rocky channe
was completely covered, and the
stream must have had a width of al
least 100 yards. At present it il
diminishing in volume, and, as the
Indians assured us, will continue tC
do so till a portion, about one-third o.
the whole, will remain. The best
time, therefore, for a visit is il
Spring, at the end of what appears
to be the rainy season Of this eleva
ted tract.
As we saw the Fall I cannot ina
.gine anything more beautiful. The
central portion, which is never dry
forms a small horseshoe or reenter.
ing angle, and the water in this part
preserves its consistency for q short
distance here also, at a few feet from
the top, all semblance of water dis
appears; it breaks up, or blossoms
into fine foam or spray, which de-
'cends in the well known rocket-likC
forms or the Staubbach and similar
waterfalls, but multiplied a Thousand
times, into a small dark pool, over &
.semi-circular curtain or precipice
deeply followed by the action of the
spray, The cavern behind the Fal
lis the home of thousands of sWal.
lows, which issue from it in the
morning, and may be seen returning
in their multitudes at night. The
Fall itself is one vast descending
column of a fine dry looking, snow,
white substance, bearing a resem-
blance, in color and consistency, tc
the snow Of an avalanche, and in the
beauty Of the forms taken by the
material of the Fall. Rainbows ot
great splendor were observed, one
from the front of the Fall in the
morning, one from the summit il
the afternoon; but this last reverted
forming a cOlored loop or ring, into
which the whole mass seemed to
precipitate itself and disappear, and
dart out from underneath, black and
at the gorge and outlet o.
the pool.
"We spent IL days in ascending
the Essequebo, which was heavy il
food, and detained us double tht
time anticipated. Five days brough
US from Tumatumari, the loves
Fall Of the Potaro, to the PatamQnl
village. In this STAGE th--~-s'fe nV'
lratsrso4z,-s-, % which at lest art
Inaccessible. We spent two days il
visiting the foot and summit of tht
Fall, and descended to the settlement
leaving Messrs Brown and King tt
complete the survey and sketches o
the country in four days and a halt
We expect our companions by tht
steamer of the 1st of August, wher
this imperfect record will be supple
mented. We had fine weather, and
suffered nothing from the climate ol
from fatigue, for which we are in
debted mainly to Mr.. Browns fore,
sight and ability"
Mr.. Brown and Mr.. King remained
at the Fall two days after the de.
parture of Sir George Young and
Mr.. Mitchell, making sketches Of
the Fall and observations of the
width, depth, and velocity of the
stream above. On carefully work.
ing out the main result of five sepa-
rate observations taken simultane.
ously at the top and bottom of the
Fall, Mr.. Brown found that they
gave the total hight of the perpen-
dicular Fall and cataract as SIT feet
The depth Of the cataract was sub
sequently taken at the edge of the
pool on the western side, by aneroiC
barometer lit being impossible tC
carry a large barometer to the foot O.
the Fall }, and found to 81 feet, max
ing the hight of the perpendicular
Fall 1856 feet. The width of the riv
er 200 yards above the Fall was 49,
yards, and its greatest depth 10 fee
2 inches, ) feet less than at higl
water. On the morning of the 2ls
of July Mr.. Brown and and Mr.. King
started on their return, but at The
mouth of the Curiebrong River, Mr.
Brown remained three days to make
arrangements to ascend that stream
ON his next geological excursion