Down a steep slope of that precipice, for about fifty feet, the proprietor has constructed a flight of steps, and upon the top of a broad terrace at their foot he has planted a flower garden, for the enjoyment of visitors. Around its edge, from which may be obtained a view of the entire cataract, is a railing with seats, and there the visitor may contemplate at ease the wild scene on every hand. On his left, as he gazes up the river, rush large streams of water from the top of the precipice above him, in almost perpendicular currents, from the waste-sluices of a canal, which, commencing at a dam almost two miles

THE HUDSON.

above the falls, conveys water to numerous mill-wlieels in the village. By this means immense hydraulic power is obtained and distributed.*

VIKW AT COnOES FALLS.

The width of the grand cataract of Cohoes is nine hundred feet, and the fall seventy-eight feet, of which about forty are perpendicular.

* The water-power at Cohoes was under the control of a stock company, who rented it to the proprietors of mills and factories. The entu-e fall of water controlled by the company was one hundred and twenty feet ; and the minimiun supply of water was one thousand cubic feet each second. The estimated value of the various ai-ticles manufactured there at that time, was neai-ly three millions of dollars per annum.

THE HUDSON. Ill

Below the fall, the water rushes over a rocky bed, in foaming rapids, between high banks, to the plain, where the islands divide it into channels, and through these it flows gently into the Hudson. It was a beautiful afternoon in early spring when we visited the falls. The water was abundant, for the snow upon the hills that border the charming valley of the Mohawk was rapidly melting, and filled the river to the brim.