junction of the two rivers, on ground so flat and low and marshy, that, at certain seasons of the year, it is inundated to the house-tops, lies a breeding - place for fever, ague, and death; vaunted in England as a mine of golden hope, and speculated in, on the faith of monstrous representations, to many people's ruin. A dismal swamp, on which the half-built houses rot away, cleared here and there for the space of a few yards, and teeming then with rank, unwholesome vegetation, in whose baleful shade the wretched wanderers who are tempted hither droop and die, and lay their bones; the hateful Mississippi circling and eddying before it, and turning off upon its southern course, a slimy monster hideous to behold; a hotbed of disease; an ugly sepulchre; a grave uncheered by any gleam of promise; a place without one single quality in earth or air or water to commend it, such is this dismal Cairo.

"But what words shall describe the Mississippi, the great 'Father of Rivers,' who (praise be to Heaven!) has no young children like him! An enormous ditch, sometimes two or three miles wide, running liquid mud six miles an hour; its strong and frothy current choked and obstructed everywhere by huge logs and whole foresttrees, — now twining themselves together in great rafts, from the interstices of which a sedgy, lazy foam works up to float upon the water's top; now rolling past, like monstrous bodies, their tangled roots showing like matted hair; now glancing singly by, like giant leeches;

and now writhing round and round in the vortex of some small whirlpool, like wounded snakes;-the banks low; the trees dwarfish; the marshes swarming with frogs; the wretched cabins few and far apart, their inmates hollow-cheeked and pale; the weather very hot; mosquitoes penetrating into every crack and crevice of the boat; mud and slime on every thing; nothing pleasant in its aspect but the harmless lightning, which flickers every night upon the dark horizon.

"For two days, we toiled up this foul stream, striking constantly against the floating timber, or stopping to avoid those more dangerous obstacles, the snags, or sawyers, which are the hidden trunks of trees that have their roots below the tide. When the nights are very dark, the lookout stationed in the head of the boat knows by the rippling of the water if any great impediment be near at hand, and rings a bell beside him, which is the signal for the engine to be stopped: but always in the night this bell has work to do; and, after every ring, there comes a blow which renders it no easy matter to remain in bed.

"The decline of day here was very gorgeous, tinging the firmament deeply with red and gold up to the very keystone of the arch above us. As the sun went down behind the bank, the slightest blades of grass upon it seemed to become as distinctly visible as the arteries in the skeleton of a leaf; and when, as it slowly sank, the red and golden bars upon the water grew dimmer and

dimmer yet, as if they were sinking too, and all the glowing colors of departing day paled, inch by inch, before the sombre night, the scene became a thousand times more lonesome and more dreary than before, and all its influence darkened with the sky.

“We drank the muddy water of this river while we were upon it. It is considered wholesome by the natives, and is something more opaque than gruel."

But one thing, at least, Mr. Dickens enjoyed as well as the Americans do,—and that was our cataract. From “The Notes,” one would judge that he did not visit Goat Island; and one cannot but regret that he did not, and there view the marvellous rapids, whose grandeur is scarcely surpassed by that of the great falls themselves. Mr. Dickens thus refers to his visit: --

"It was a miserable day,-chilly and raw, a damp mist falling, and the trees in that northern region quite bare and wintry. Whenever the train halted, I listened for the roar, and was constantly straining my eyes in the direction where I knew the falls must be from seeing the river rolling on towards them; every moment expecting to behold the spray. Within a few minutes of our stopping, not before, I saw two great white clouds rising up slowly and majestically from the depths of the earth: that was all. At length we alighted; and then, for the first time, I heard the mighty rush of water, and felt the ground tremble underneath my feet.

"The bank is very steep, and was slippery with rain and half-melted ice. I hardly know how I got down; but I was soon at the bottom, and climbing, with two English officers who were crossing, and had joined me, over some broken rocks, deafened by the noise, half blinded by the spray, and wet to the skin. We were at the foot of the American Fall. I could see an immense torrent of water tearing headlong down from some great height, but had no idea of shape or situation or any thing but vague immensity.

"When we were seated in the little ferry-boat, and were crossing the swollen river immediately before both cataracts, I began to feel what it was; but I was in a manner stunned, and unable to comprehend the vastness of the scene. It was not until I came on Table Rock, great Heaven, on what a fall of bright

and looked, green water!

and majesty.

that it came upon me in its full might

Then, when I felt how near to my Creator I was standing, the first effect, and the enduring one, -instant and lasting, — of the tremendous spectacle, was peace,-peace of mind, tranquillity, calm recollections of the dead, great thoughts of eternal rest and happiness, nothing of gloom or terror. Niagara was at once stamped upon my heart an image of beauty, to remain there, changeless and indelible, until its pulses cease to beat forever.

"Oh! how the strife and trouble of daily life receded

from my view, and lessened in the distance, during the ten memorable days we passed on that enchanted ground! What voices spoke from out the thundering water! what faces, faded from the earth, looked out upon me from its gleaming depths! what heavenly promise glistened in those angels' tears, the drops of many hues, that showered around, and twined themselves about the gorgeous arches which the changing rainbows made!

"I never stirred in all that time from the Canadian side, whither I had gone at first. I never crossed the river again: for I knew there were people on the other shore; and, in such a place, it is natural to shun strange company. To wander to and fro all day, and see the cataracts from all points of view; to stand upon the edge of the great Horseshoe Fall, marking the hurried water gathering strength as it approached the verge, yet seeming, too, to pause before it shot into the gulf below; to gaze from the river's level up at the torrent as it came streaming down; to climb the neighboring heights, and watch it through the trees, and see the wreathing water in the rapids hurrying on to take its fearful plunge; to linger in the shadow of the solemn rocks three miles below, watching the river, as, stirred by no visible cause, it heaved and eddied, and awoke the echoes, being troubled yet far down beneath the surface by its giant leap; to have Niagara before me, lighted by the sun and by the moon, red in the day's decline, and gray as even