The Rhine at Schaffhausen, Switzerland, rushes over rugged rocks on its way down from the highlands into the lovely and historic valley it has carved for itself on its way to the sea.
FAR-FAMED WATERFALLS THAT HAVE INSPIRED TRAVELERS AND WRITERS
1. The Niagara Falls and rapids form one of the most impressive spectacles in the world. The Niagara River, which is the sole outlet of the great lakes, pours itself in two vast sheets over a precipice about 160 feet high. Goat Island, which is situated on the lip of the falls, divides the cataract into two sections—the Horseshoe, or Canadian fall, which is by far the more majestic, and the America fall. It has a descent of 158 feet and the American fall of 167 feet. The volume of water which sweeps over this immense chasm is about 15,000,000 cubic feet per minute. The limestone edge of both falls is wearing away in the center, the Canadian fall now being V-shaped, and the American fall showing the same tendency, although its process of recession has begun more recently. For some distance below the falls there is smooth current, the mass of water which pours over the precipice sinking and only coming to the surface two miles below, where the rapids, more magnificent and wilder than those above the falls, begin, and culminate in the rapids of the Upper Whirlpool. Lower down the river is the whirlpool itself, where a sharp turn sends the waters hurling against the Canadian side; they then sweep round in a gigantic circle before they find a vent at right angle with their former course. The sight of the falls is equally awe-inspiring from the bridge on the lip of the fall, from the boat which plies from shore to shore below the cataract, or from the Cave of the Winds, reached from Goat Island. Although in summer the magnificence of the sight is extraordinary, it is in winter, when the wizardry of the frost is upon it, that it is superlatively beautiful. The falls were first discovered by Father Hennepin in 1678.