If the first white man who saw Niagara could have been certain that he was the first to see it, and had simply recorded the fact with whatever note or comment, he would have secured for himself that species of immortality which accrues to such as are connected with those first and last events and things in which all men feel a certain interest. But he failed to improve his opportunity, and Father Hennepin was the first, so far as known, to profit by such neglect, and his somewhat crude and exaggerated description of the Falls has been often quoted and is well known. So long as "waters flow and trees grow" it will continue to be read by successive generations. The French missionaries and traders who followed him seem to have been too much occupied in saving souls or in seeking for gold to spend much time in contemplating the cataract, or to waste much sentiment in writing about it. And so it happens that, considering its fame, very little has been written, or rather published, concerning it. Seventy years ago, the few travelers who were drawn to the vicinity by interest or curiosity were obliged to approach it by Indian trails, or rude corduroy roads, through dense and dark forests. Within the solitude of their deep shadows, beneath their protecting arms, was hidden one of the sublimest works of the physical creation. The scene was grand, impressive, almost oppressive, not less sublime than the Alps or the ocean, but more fascinating, more companionable, than either. Niagara we can take to our hearts. We realize its majesty and its beauty, but we are never obliged to challenge its power. Its surroundings and accessories are calm and peaceful. Even in all the treacherous and bloody warfare of savage Indians it was neutral ground. It was a forest city of refuge for contending tribes. The generous, noble, and peaceful Niagaras--a people, according to M. Charlevoix, "larger, stronger, and better formed than any other savages," and who lived upon its borders--were called by the whites and the neighboring tribes the Neuter Nation. The crafty Hurons, the unwarlike Eries, the invincible league formed by the six aggressive and conquering tribes composing the Iroquois confederacy,--the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Senecas, and the Tuscaroras,--all extinguished the torch, buried the tomahawk, and smoked the calumet when they came to the shores of the Niagara, and sat down within sight of its incense cloud, and listened to its perpetual anthem. In succeeding contests between the whites, on two occasions only was nature's repose here disturbed by the din of battle--first, in the running fight at Chippewa, and again at the obstinate and bloody struggle of Lundy's Lane.