ges; that the wretched peasant should have been exposed to the oppression of the capitaineries, and yet have remained so personally unconnected with his lord, as to be ready to massacre his family and burn his castle; while in England, the custom of the great landholder to reside, for a part of the year at least, upon his estate, and his attachment to agricultural pursuits, and the general necessity of an application to the good will of the people, at least once in seven years, have given him a more than feudal influence long after the destruction of the system itself. Should the sins of Europe, and I may add of America, deserve so great a calamity as the destruction of the naval power of England, and the French be able to land there, which Heaven avert, the conflict would still be long and severe; every day which marked the progress of the invading army, would be a day of battle; they would have to trample upon the bodies of the nobility and gentry, of the merchant, the farmer, the labourer, and the manufacturer; and I will venture to say, that at the worst, no son of the noble houses of Russel or of Percy, no Howard, Churchill, or Lumley would be found fiddling or dancing for bread in foreign countries; they would die at their posts.

FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

A Summary of Remarks made on the Falls of Niagara, by the Hon. Samuel L. Mitchill, as gathered from his conversations and display of Mineral Specimens.

DR. MITCHILL observed on his return from Niagara, in 1809, that the cataract had employed so many pens and pencils, that he should not have written any thing about it, had it not appeared to him that the great chasm which the water has formed in the rocks at that place, discloses much of the mineralogy of the region, and assists in forming correct opinions concerning the geology of this section of the globe. He thinks the delineation by Mr. Weld as reputable to him; and his pages and illustrations instructive. The account by Mr. Volney he considers as instructive; and his plans intelligent. The paintings and prints of Mr. Vanderlyn, were pronounced by Dr. Mitchill as pieces which presented to the eye, all that could be expected from landscape.

And speaking of the description of Mr. M'Kinnen, he observed, that although it was almost as much a picture of his own emotions as of the scenes around him, it was nevertheless ingenious and interesting.

On exploring the strata laid bare by the cataract, their argillaceous, calcareous and silicious character immediately struck him. He was careful to bring away specimens of each; and these at all times and distances, enable him to substantiate his own description of the grand falls.

The inferior layers of earthy matter at the falls are composed of slate, or shistus. This is very friable, and cracked into numberless pieces. It has so little cohesion that the fragments can be easily picked out by the fingers. It is constantly dropping off or wearing away. Its fallen portions constitute a part of the loose gravel through which the traveller labours beneath. This argillaceous matter yields to mechanical and chymical agency more readily than the harder strata which it supports. It therefore undergoes excavation, while the superior and firmer strata of limestone project and overhang, until they break off by their own weight. Owing to this abrasion or decay of the brittle shistus, the calcareous rocks above jut far beyond their present base, and threaten him who takes shelter below them. Masses of various sizes, from small stones to rocks of many tons weight have fallen from the summit thus undermined, and now occupy the space at its foot. As the excavating or undermining process goes on, other pieces will be detached, and the chasm be proportionally enlarged. This foundation of slate is of vast extent in these parts of North America. Shistus emerges from the strata of granite on the banks of the Hudson, at Newburgh and Fish-kill, and underlays the limestone to the northward of both; as well as the sandstone of the Kaatskill mountains. Travelling north it shows itself again at the water-falls in the neighbourhood of Albany, and at the village of Waterford. The same kind of argillaceous slate prevails beyond Stillwater to the falls of Fort Edward, and supports the limestone over which the Hudson at Glen's falls is precipitated. Turning westward, the shistus, over which the Mowhawk river falls at the Cohoez, is covered with granitical stones and rocks from Schenectady to Palatine; and at the latter place, by a limestone that is replete with petrifactions. At the little falls where the lock-navigation has been opened, huge strata of a compact, striated, dusky and ferruginous quartz conceal it. At Utica a coarse, gra

nulated silicious sandstone overspreads it.

But at Oriscany the slate

again makes its appearance, and continues until the limestone incrusts it, west of the Oneida reservation, in the town of Sullivan. And it probably extends under the calcareous strata quite to Niagara river, and

an unknown distance into Canada. At the former place, the impetuous action of the water has exposed its deep stratification. Shistus rock abounds in the region between the Hudson and the Mohawk; for at Ballstown, some of the branches of the Kayaderopras have washed the strata bare. And the banks of the St. Lawrence from Quebec to Kingston on Lake Ontario, demonstrate the prevalence of the like argillaceous slate as the extensive substratum in all that tract of country.

The rocks which compress the layers of friable shistus at Niagara, are limestone. They are piled up to a great height. They are disposed horizontally, and are of the flat or tabular form. Their strength and compactness enables them to overhang the banks, after their foundation of brittle slate has been removed. One of the most prominent and durable of these strata is the table-rock. This is much frequented as a favourable spot for observing the magnificent scenery from above. While it lasts, it is worthy of being resorted to, for the advantages of the prospect it affords. And it may be regretted, that it will be spoiled whenever the slate beneath shall be so far worn away as to render the incumbent strata of calcareous matter incapable of supporting their own weight. The projecting portions will break off, and descend by their gravity to the subjacent mass of ruins. The fear of danger to a spectator standing upon such a ponderous shelf, and surveying his situation when above, is not surpassed by the solemn apprehension he experiences from its imminent and awful aspect when below.

In these calcareous strata, Dr. Mitchill observed the carbonate of lime to predominate. This, however, is not a mere mixture of fixed air with an earthy calx. The rock on being rubbed or broken, emits a fetid or sulphurcous odour; evincing that it is a swine-stone or lapis suillus. This disagreeable smell attends the limestone in this and the adjacent regions. Dr. M. possesseses pieces of it charged with martial pyrites. And the sulphur, clay and iron of this association, are intimately blended with the calcareous carbonate. The existence of pyritical limestone explains how by the decomposition of the pyrites, sulphuric acid is produced, and gypsum formed.

The calcareous nature of the upper rocks is evinced by the fact, that in the neighbourhood of the great cataract as well as at the whirlpool five miles down the river, and at Queenstown two miles further, the inhabitants burn them into limestone for economical purposes. But the material is not always indeterminate or shapeless. It assumes beautiful crystalline forms. Rhomboidal and cubical crystals are formed on its surface, and in its cavities. The former are of a milkwhite colour, with oblique angels. The latter are less frequent, generally found in the same clusters with the others of an almost rectangular figure, and of a semi-transparent complexion. Other crystals shoot along the vacuities of the limestone; some of an imperfect hex

angular shape, and others in clumps of acute six-sided crystals, both having a resemblance to the dogs-tooth-spar. All these are probably modifications of the calcareous carbonate, by admixtures of magnesia, iron, silex, and perhaps some other ingredients.

These layers of limestone are interspersed with small masses or lumps of gypsum. This is generally of a snowy whiteness, and indeterminate figure. But it is sometimes finely semi-pellucid and lamellar. It is mistaken by the people for the petrified froth of the river. It seems to be formed in consequence of a decomposition of the pyrites imbedded in some parts of the rock. The sulphuric acid to which this process gives rise, expels the carbonic acid, and unites with the limestone by virtue of a more powerful attraction. Thus the common limestone is converted into plaster of paris; or in chymical language, the carbonate of lime is changed into a sulphate. The two compounds very commonly exist together, the limestone and gypsum cohering and making parts of one mineral mass. In some rills where the brimstone appears not to have been combined with oxygen, it oozes out with the water, and discolours the rocks. Thus native sulphur and calcareous sulphurets, may be enumerated among the natural preducts of Niagara.

To enable the kind and quality of the calcareous rocks, in the western territory of New-York, and the adjacent parts of Canada, to be understood, it ought to be mentioned that organic remains, apparently of animals, are frequently found in them, the greater part of the way from the Seneca Lake to Niagara River, a distance of a hundred miles. At the remarkable sulphureous spring in the town of Phelps, eleven miles northwest of Geneva, they appear like corralines and madrepores. On both sides of the Genessee and Ionewanto rivers, they resemble marine shells. While on the east and west banks of Nigara river, they assume, in addition to the already enumerated forms, those that have erroneously been called petrified wasp's-nests and honey-combs. In some cases these calcareous petrifactions are blended with pyrites; and in others they are impregnated with a petroleum or bituminous matter, called Seneca oil. These petrifactions do not indeed so remarkably distinguish the limestone at the spot where the cataract is; but, as the calcareous strata there possess the same general character with that in the adjoining districts, it was thought proper in drawing up this sketch, to mention the marks of the common saline and maritime origin.

The silicious ingredients in the rocks hereabout were observed by Dr. Mitchill to consist mostly of quartz and flint. The quartz is sometimes mingled with the calcareous carbonate in such quantity as to give sparks with steel; forming a sort of silicious limestone. In other cases it exists in veins or streaks almost unmixed. And lastly it bespangles

the surface with elegant crystals, hard enough to scratch glass. The flint at the falls is whitish; but near the outlet of lake Erie it is blackish. In both places it is distinctly bedded in the limestone; and their quantity is relatively small, particularly at the former place. At the latter, the colour of the flint concurs with that of the calcareous strata in which it is immerged, to have obtained for the spot the name of Black-rock. This stone breaks with the concavo-convex fracture; and answers very well to furnish fire-stones for musquets. It does not seem to be chymically incorporated with the limestone; but to be laid in it as pebbles are scattered through breccias. Dr. M. said it put him in mind of the nodules of flint, contained in the chalk-pits of Kent and Surry, which he had observed in travelling through England. The flint and limestone at Erie lie contiguous without mixture; and may be broken out in their respective forms quite distinct. And this connexion of them continues eastwardly, far into the Seneca-prairies, or Buffalo Plains.

Such, according to this gentleman's report, is the constitution of the solid strata at Niagara, and in its vicinity. The uppermost are horizontal and tabular; when a stratum is discontinued, its termination is abrupt, forming a sudden descent. This descent, at any one place, is proportional to the thickness of the stratum. Several of these strata break off in this manner, about half way between Chipeway and the grand cataract. And they continue their interruptions to the evenness of the channel, the whole distance beyond.. At each termination the river treads lower, and skips and dances along to the next. It marches down this, and proceeds to the succeeding one. Then it runs from stage to stage, until after a gradual and majestic progress of a mile, gathering force and velocity at every step, it leaps from the high and final precipice.

The mighty and immeasurable torrent dashes upon a ledge of detached and enormous rocks, the fragments of the superior strata that have been broken off, and precipitated in the course of ages. All the pieces which the vehement and unceasing current can stir, are washed away. None remain but those that are too heavy for removal. These form a rough and broken bottom for the floods to rush upon. Their solidity and size check the impetuosity of the headlong river. Their crags convert a part of it into mist, which rises like an exhalation to an altitude sufficient to be seen for many miles, and which bedews the adjacent district with a moisture resembling rain. On the Canada side, they are in a great degree concealed from sight by the foaming water, and the rising spray that invest them. But on the New-York side, where the height of the fall is greater and the quantity of water smaller, the inferior ledge of rocks can be better discerned as they lie piled upon each other in all the rudeness of accidental dispo