r kind, called broom corn, being grown only to make
brooms. We passed many fields of a brilliant orange-red pumpkin, which,
when cooked, looks something like mashed turnips, and is called squash:
it is very delicate and nice. But beautiful as the country was, even in
the rain, we soon found out that we had left New England and its
bright-looking wooden houses. The material of which the houses are built
remains the same; but instead of being painted, and looking trim and
neat as in New England, they consisted of the natural unpainted wood;
though twelve hours of pouring rain may have made them more
melancholy-looking than usual; for they were all of a dingy brown, and
had a look bordering on poverty and dilapidation in some instances, to
which we were quite unaccustomed.

On reaching this place we found the hotel was closed for the season; but
rooms had been secured in a very fair country inn, where we had a
tolerable dinner. We were glad to see the rain gradually cease; and the
promise of a fine afternoon caused us to sally out as soon after dinner
as we could to see the falls. These are very beautiful: they are formed
by a tributary of the Mohawk River, along the banks of which (of the
Mohawk itself I mean) our railway this morning passed for about forty
miles. The Erie Canal, a most celebrated work, is carried along the
other bank of the river; so that, during all this distance, the river,
the railway, and the canal were running parallel to each other, and not
a pistol shot across the three.[3] We had been warned by some Swiss
friends at Newport against carelessness and rashness in walking along
the narrow ledge cut in the face of the rock, so we took a guide and
found the pass very slippery from the heavy rain. The amiable young
guide took possession of me, and for a time I got on tolerably well,
clinging to the chain which in places was fastened against the face of
the rock; but as the path narrowed, my head began to spin, and as the
guide discouraged me, under these circumstances, from going any further,
I turned back with Thrower and regained _dry land_, while the rest of
the party were accomplishing their difficult task. They returned much
sooner than we expected, delighted with all they had seen, though papa
said I was right not to have pursued the narrow ledge. He then took me
through a delightful wood to the head of the falls, where a seat in a
little summer-house enabled me to enjoy the lovely scene. The river