At a great distance from the foot of the ladder we halted, and one of the party was dispatched to fetch a bottle of brandy and a pair of goblets, which had been deposited under some stones on the margin of the river, in our way to the great fall, whither it would have been highly inconvenient to have carried them. Wet from head to foot, and greatly fatigued, there certainly was not one amongst us that appeared, at the moment, desirous of getting the brandy, in order to pour out a libation to the tutelary deities of the cataract; nor indeed was there much reason to apprehend that our piety would have shone forth more conspicuously afterwards; however it was not put to the test; for the messenger returned in a few minutes with the woeful intelligence that the brandy and goblets had been stolen. We were at no great loss in guessing who the thieves were. Perched on the rocks, at a little distance from us, sat a pair of the river nymphs, not “nymphs with sedged crowns and ever harmless looks;” not “temperate nymphs,” but a pair of squat sturdy old wenches, that with close bonnets and tucked up petticoats had crawled down the cliff, and were busied with long rods in angling for fish. Their noisy clack plainly indicated that they had been well pleased with the brandy, and that we ought not to entertain any hopes of recovering the spoil; we e’en slaked our thirst, therefore, with a draught from the wholesome flood, and having done so, boldly pushed forward, and before it was quite dark regained the habitations from whence we had started. [Sidenote: REMARKS.] On returning we found a well-spread table laid out for us in the porch of the house, and having gratified the keen appetite which the fatigue we had encountered had excited, our friendly guides, having previously given us instructions for examining the falls more particularly, set off by moonlight for Niagara, and we repaired to Fort Chippeway, three miles above the falls, which place we made our head-quarters while we remained in the neighbourhood, because there was a tolerable tavern, and no house in the village near the falls, where sickness was not prevalent. The Falls of Niagara are much less difficult of access now than they were some years ago. Charlevoix, who visited them in the year 1720, tells us, that they were only to be viewed from one spot; and that from thence the spectator had only a side prospect of them. Had he been able to have descended to the bottom, he would have had ocular demonstration of the existence of caverns underneath the precipice, which he supposed to be the case from the hollow sound of the falling of the waters; from the number of carcases washed up there on different parts of the strand, and would also have been convinced of the truth of a circumstance which he totally disbelieved, namely, that fish were oftentimes unable to stem the rapid current above the falls, and were consequently carried down the precipice. [Sidenote: REMARKS.]