[1]
Above these it is navigable for boats nearly 70 miles, where are other
two falls, of 60 and 90 feet, one mile apart, in Nunda, south of
Leicester. At the head of the Genesee is a tract six miles square,
embracing waters, some of which flow into the gulf of Mexico, others
into Chesapeake Bay, and others into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This
tract is probably elevated 1,600 or 1,700 feet above the tide waters
of the Atlantic Ocean.
[1] It may be as well here to quote the formation of Cataracts
and Cascades, from Maltebrun's valuable _System of Universal
Geography._ "It is only the sloping of the land which can at first
cause water to flow; but an impulse having been once communicated
to the mass, the pressure alone of the water will keep it in
motion, even if there were no declivity at all. Many great rivers,
in fact, flow with an almost interruptible declivity. Rivers which
descend from primitive mountains into secondary lands, often form
_cascades and cataracts_. Such are the cataracts of the Nile,
of the Ganges, and some other great rivers, which, according to
Desmarest, evidently mark the limits of the ancient land.
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