NIAGARA.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 23 October 1882, Page 3

NIAGARA.

A Times correspondent at Niagara notes that since the fall of Table Rock, thirty- two years ago, the Horseshoe Falls have lost that regularity of outline which suggested their name, and indendations in at least two spots give them an angular appearance not unlike the letter W in general shape. This is accounted for by the wearing away of the brink more rapidly at these two points than anywhere else along the entire edge of the Canadian falls. Another change, and one at which tho natives of these parts greatly man-el, is the spouting of water by these same Horseshoe Falls. The older and more observing villagers solemnly declare that this curious spectacle has been growing more and more noticeable for the past three years, until it

has become so well [defined that the name of the spouting Horseshoe is now applied to that portion of the Canadian Falls. Hone of them pretend to know the cause of this singular action of the waters. They content themselves with pointing it out as another curious ' freak of nature, hound to add a new attraction to the vicinity and to swell an income which has never been inconsiderable in the dullest of summers. It is best observed on a clear sun-shiny day, when but little wind disturbs the surface of the river. From the centre suspension bridge, which is a short quarter of a mile below tho horseshoe, the spouting is clearly visible. On such a day the clouds of vapour barely rise to the height of twothirds of the falls, and the brink is never obscured by fine mist. Under such conditions the eye has an unobstructed view of the dark blue waters as they hurry towards the edge of the precipice, only to bo transformed into a hvoad sheet of milky white-, ness, when they take the plunga and disappear in the eternal clouds of mist that envelop the foot of the cataract. Suddenly there rises to a level with the top of the falls a mass of spray, increasing in voluinn and rising in height until from out their midst spout a number of well-defined jets which mount upward many feet and then melt away in vapour. Assuming 150 ft, the generally recognised figure, to he tho altitude of the Horseshoo Falls, these jets seemingly must shoot upward to a height of 200 ft. Thoy certainly add a variety to the scene, and attract at once tho attention of visitors. The duration of this phenomenon, if such it can be called, is from ten to fifteen seconds. Tho clouds of vapour like volumes of white smoke, continue to fill tho air above the Horseshoe for full half a minute after the jets have lost all outline, and they, too, gradually die away, and for about ten seconds longer the spot is again free from all turbulence, and nothing but a stretch of waters as far as the rapids is presented to tho view. Sometimes these jets of water drop their tassel-like tips in a graceful arch, inclining toward tho Canadian shore, and again they fall over upon tho brink of the Horseshoe. The regularity with which these slender, tappering jets appear and disappear is one of the features of a peculiar exhibition which promises to excite as much attention as any disturbance in the outline of the falls themselves that has been noted in recent years.