While an admirable view of the falls may be obtained from many points of observation on the bridge, or along both shores, the greatest interest attaches to a visit to the noisy caverns that are behind the descending flood. These may be reached by means of spiral stairways built for the purpose, but the visitor must prepare for the trip by investing himself in a suit of oil-skin, and for a while must assume the character of an amphibian. At the bottom of the deep descent are stones in great confusion, over which we must scramble to reach the Cave-of-the-Winds, a watery grotto indeed, in which the air is agitated by the thundering cataract that fairly envelopes you. The scene here is beyond the scope of pen or brush, for these appeal only to sight and understanding, while the awful presence conjures all the senses. Behind the giant curtain of waterfall is a greenish reflection, weird in its intensity and unnaturalness, and to the ears there comes a muffled roar which, while not jarring, yet seems to pervade and penetrate like the dull rumble of an earthquake. This uncertain disturbance, which confuses with strange noise, is intensified by a wind that is here created by what appears to be some mysterious agency; and other curious things are noted that suggest to the imaginative mind a region of the supernatural, where indistinct voices warn and then invite, but are always clamorous, like a crowd of bedlamites. Below the falls the river narrows to eight hundred feet, between precipitous walls, which add swiftness to the current, and three miles from Horseshoe Falls the impetuous stream strikes a point of projecting land in such a manner that a terrible whirlpool is created, capable of sucking down a large steamboat. By means of a car, which is controlled by a cable, visitors may ride down the very steep incline to the edge of Whirlpool Rapids and view in safety the awful, mad-lashing waters, swirling with extraordinary rapidity and throwing high the tousled heads of ravening waves, which appear to be lusting for victims and bellowing for vengeance. It is gratifying to know that the almost incomputable power of Niagara is soon to be transmitted, through the generation of electricity, to mills and machinery, and thus utilized to the honor of human genius as well as to the glory of God. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: