At the foot of Grand Island is a smaller one, of about three hundred acres, called Buckhorn Island. The channel between them is called “Burnt Ship Bay,” from the destruction of two armed supply vessels by the French garrison at Schlosser, near the close of the French war of 1759, to prevent their acquisition by the English. They were brought to this bay, and set on fire, and the circumstance is thus commemorated by the name of the bay.
Corner’s Island, Gill Creek Island and Grass Island, all of them small, lie near the American shore, and are important, commercially or historically.
[Illustration: FATHER HENNEPIN’S SKETCH OF THE FALLS.]
The first white man who saw the Falls, of whom we have any account, was Father Hennepin, the noted explorer. We present above a _fac-simile_ of the sketch made by him, representing the Falls as they were 200 years ago. We also give his extravagant description, preserving the orthography and the quaint style in which it was written:--
“Betwixt the Lake _Ontario_ and _Erie_, there is a vast and prodigious Cadence of Water which falls down after a surprizing and astonishing manner, insomuch that the Universe does not afford its Parallel. ’Tis true, _Italy_ and _Suedeland_ boast of some such Things; but we may well say they are but sorry Patterns, when compar’d to this of which we now speak. At the foot of this horrible Precipice, we meet with the River _Niagara_, which is not above a quarter of a League broad, but is wonderfully deep in some places. It is so rapid above this Descent, that it violently hurries down the wild Beasts while endeavoring to pass it to feed on the other side, they not being able to withstand the force of its Current, which inevitably casts them headlong above Six hundred foot high.
“This wonderful Downfal is compounded of two great Cross-streams of Water, and two Falls, with an Isle sloping along the middle of it. The Waters which fall from this horrible Precipice, do foam and boyl after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous Noise, more terrible than that of Thunder; for when the Wind blows out of the South, their dismal roaring may be heard more than Fifteen Leagues off.
“The River _Niagara_ having thrown it self down this incredible Precepice, continues its impetuous course for two Leagues together, to the great Rock above-mention’d, with an inexpressible rapidity: But having past that, its impetuosity relents, gliding along more gently for other two Leagues, till it arrive at the Lake _Ontario_ or _Frontenac_.