ose window commanded the rapids and the great fall, I
flung myself upon my bed, and gratefully reviewed all the beauty of
earth and sky which I had been so happily permitted to behold and to
enjoy.

The days I passed here must always be recalled by me as days of
unalloyed enjoyment; I felt an indescribable calm steal, as it were,
over my spirit. Generally active, impatient, and inquiring, I have
seldom found any neighbourhood which I did not compass in a few days;
but from the vicinity of this spot I had no desire to stir. Finding that
the dinner-hour was two o'clock, which would have destroyed the day, I
requested the proprietor of the hotel, one of the most obliging persons
I ever met,--an Englishman,--to give our little party dinner at five;
and from breakfast to this time I believe our time was usually passed
lounging dreamily about Goat Island, to reach which you cross the river
below the falls to the American side, and then pass over the rapids on a
bridge, which is in itself a wonder.

The turf of this island, its trees and flowers, retaining in summer the
freshness of spring, the delicious purity of its atmosphere, and the
brightness of its waters, render it most charming. The solitude here has
no drawback; the strong currents of air by which it is encircled defy
the powers of the musquito,--that bane to all thin-skinned people with
pastoral inclinations, and not an insect in the least venomous or
annoying is to be found here.

This Island of the Rainbow, as it has been poetically and not
inappropriately named, is situated exactly between the falls;
surrounded, and intersected in part, by rapids frightful to look on.
Before American enterprise and ingenuity spanned these with the bridge
that now connects the Iris isle with the main land, the approach to it
must have been attended with great difficulty and much danger; indeed,
I believe it was very rarely attempted; at present it is occupied by one
or two poor families, who tend a garden now in progress, under the care
of the proprietor of the place.

Within these few years, a young man of good appearance was known to have
taken up his abode here; he shunned all observance, only holding
communion with a poor family who procured him what necessaries he
needed. After a residence of two years he died, without leaving the
slightest clue to his name or country. That his condition was gentle may
be inferred from his accomplishments: a flute and a guitar, on both of