Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1886-11-04
PILGRIMS At NIAGARA.
A Walk Probably Unsurpassed in tn
World for Wonder and Beauty.

AS they walked slowly on, past the
now abandoned paper-mills and the
other human impertinences, the ele-
mental turmoil increased, and they
seemed entering world the founda-
tions of which were broken up. This
must have been good deal of matter
of impression, for other parties of sight
seers were coming and going, appar-
emily unawed, and intent simply on
visiting every point spoken of in the
guide-book, and probably unconscious
of the all-pervading terror. Standing
upon the platform at the top, the spec
tator realizes for the first time the i'm
mense might of the down-pour of tho
American fall, and notes the pale green
color, with here and there aviolet tone,
and the white cloud mass squirting out
from the solid color. On the foam
crested river lay rainbow forming
nearly complete circle. The little
steamer Maid of the Mist was coming
up, riding the waves, dashed here and
there by conflicting currents, but reso-
lutely steaming on-such is the audacity
of man-and poking her venturesome
nose into the boiling foam under the
Horseshoe. On the deck are pigmy
passengers in oil-skin suits, clumsy
figures, like Arctic explorers. The
boat tosses about like a chip, it hest
tates and quivers, and then slowly
swinging, darts away down the cur
rent, fleeing from the wrath of the
waters, and pursued by the angry roar.
Surely it is an island of magic, un-
substantial, liable to go adrift and
plunge into the canyon. Even in the
forest path, where the greattree trunks
assure one of stability and long immu-
nifty, this feeling can not be shaken otf
Our party descended the winding stair.
case in the tower, and walked on the
shelf under the mighty ledge to the
entrance of the Cave of. the winds.
The curtain of water covering this en-
trance was blown back and forth by
the wind, now leaving the platform
dry and now deluging it. From this
platform one looks down the narrow
slippery stains that are lost in the boil
ing mist, and wonders at the daring
that built these steps down into that
hell, and carried the frail walks OF
planks over the powders outside the
fall A party in oil-skins making their
way there, looked like lost men and
women in Dante Inferno. The tur-
bulent waters dashed all about them;
the mist occasionally wrapped them
from sight; they clung to the rails; they
tried to speak to each other; theil
gestures seemed motions of despair.
Could that be Eurydice whom the
rough guide was tenderly dragging
out of the hell of waters, up the stony
path. that singular figure in oil-skir
trousers, who disclosed pretty face
inside her hood as she emergedP One
might venture into the Internal re
gions to rescue such woman; bu
why take her therep The group of ad
venturers stopped moment on the
platform, with the opening into the
misty cavern for background, anc
the artist said that the picture was
beyond all power of pencil, strange
and fantastic. There is nothing, aftel
| all, blldt t1t uuluhu IdCc VIII hop N"hS
for new sensation.
The walk around Goat Island is prob
ably unsurpassed in the world for won
der and beauty. The Americans hav'
every reason to be satisfied with theil
share of the fall; they get nowhere ont
single grand view like that from th'
Canada side, but infinitely the deepes
impression of majesty and power is OBJ
tanned on Goat Island. There the spec
tator is in the midst of the war o
nature. From the point over tn
Horseshoe Fall our friends, speakin!
not much, but more and more deepl.
moved, strolled along in the lovely for
est, in rural solemnitY, in a loca
calm, almost seclusion, except fo
the ever-present shuddering roar in tn
air. On the shore above the Horseshoe
they first comprehended the breadth
the great sweep of the rapids. Th
white crests of the waves in the ives
were coming out from under black
lowering sky; all the foreground wa
; in bright sunlight, dancing, sparkling
! leaping, hurrying on, converging +
the angle where the water becomes
, deep emerald at the break and plunge
.. The rapids above are series of shelves
bristling with jutting rocks and lodge
trunks Of trees, and the wildness of tn
scene is intensified by the ragged firing
of evergreens on the opposite shore.
Over the whole island the mist, ris
! ing from the caldron, drifts in spra
when the wind is favorable; but on thi
. day the forest was bright and Cheerful
and as the strollers went farther ava
! from the Great Fall, the beauty of tn
\ scene began to steal away its terror
d The roar was still dominant, but ia
off and softened, and did not crush tn
ear. The triple islands the Three Si'
:. ters in their picturesque wildness al
= peared like playful freaks of nature
!. momentary relaxation of the savae
= mood. Here is the finest view of til
: river; to one standing on the QUITE
! most island the great flood seen
Il tumbling out of the sky. They col
tinued along the bank of the rive
! The shallow stream races by headlons
= = but close to the edge are numerous e'
= dies, and places where one might ste
l in and not be swept away. At leng'
they reached the point where the rive
: divides, and the water stands for a
instant almost still. hesitating wheth'
= to take the Canadian or the America
. plunge. Out little way from ii
y shore the waves leap and tumble, an
= the two currents are like race-hors
. parted on two ways to the goal. Ju
!, l. at this point the water swirls and Iii
} gers, having lost all its ierceness an
d haste, and spreads itself out placidl
Il dimpling in the sun. 1t may be
: treacherous pause, this water may
L as cruel as that which RACES below an
o exults in catching boat or a man an
e bounding with the victim over the ca
$ aract; but the calm was very gratcf
u to the stunned and buffeted visitor
upon their Jared nerves it was like Il