2. Circular Rainbows
It is possible to-day, as it most certainly was in those traditional days, to behold a complete circular Rainbow at Niagara; generally, only when one is out in front of the falling waters, close to the spray, near the level of the river in the Gorge; always with the Sun at one's back--and the Sun must shine brightly, and the Mist must be plentiful.
It is possible to see a complete circular Rainbow anywhere, on land or water, whenever one stands between the Sun and a sufficiently abundant mist (standing close to the latter), and the Sun is near the horizon.
It is possible to see it, at some point at Niagara, often,--that is on every bright day,--because that abundant curtain of mist is ever present; and the Gorge, by reason of its great width and depth, affords specially favorable opportunities.
This curious phenomenon is obtainable easily and regularly only in the Gorge at the Goat Island end of the American Fall, from the rocks in front of the Cave of the Winds (for the prevailing winds of the locality are from the southwest, which bring the spray cloud into the best relative position at this point), or from the deck of the steamboat, at certain parts of the trip,--and from both only in the afternoon.
It can sometimes be seen from Prospect Point, and from the Terrapin Rocks--in the early morning, when the spray-cloud rises towards the north.
It can also, sometimes (at the season when the Sun sets farthest to the northward), be seen from the rocks out in front of the American Fall, below Prospect Point.
This was the spot where the Aborigines would most easily have tested the efficacy of the Legend; for their descent into the Gorge was made at a point on the American shore, not so very far north from the end of that Fall.
When white men first settled near the Cataract, in the first decade of the 19th Century, the location of the "Indian Ladder" was amongst the present overflows from the mills of the Lower Milling district. That, by reason of the "debris slope" of the Gorge being highest at that point, had doubtless been its location for ages.
The fact that, even at the most accessible (and that by no means easily reached) end of the Fall in the Gorge, the entire conditions of the Legend could so rarely be fully complied with, would have been to the unscientific minds of the Savages only an additional incentive to a firmer belief in it.
It is also observable from the rocks beyond and below Terrapin Point, on the Goat Island side of the Horse-Shoe Fall; but the climb out to that point is both arduous and dangerous, and is very rarely attempted.
No such phenomenon can be seen from the Canadian shore, because there are no rocks out in front of that end of the Horse-Shoe Fall on which one can stand.
Were one to stand upon the apex of the Rock of Ages, or on the apex of any other high rock at the base of the Fall, at noon, when the sky was clear above, and the currents of air happened to surround the base of that rock on all sides with spray, as one turned completely around one would be in the center of a complete circular Rainbow--which would be below the level of the feet--and of which one would see but the half at any portion of the turn.
At Niagara, when one gazes on a complete circular bow, as seen against the perpendicular curtain of spray, the center of the circle will always be lower than the point where one is standing. This is necessarily so, from the very nature of things,--because the Sun, one's head, and the center of that circle must be in a line.
When the point of observation is high enough, and the spray-cloud spreads out extensively enough, it is possible to see two concentric, complete Rainbows at one time. In fact, one does often see a portion of the arc of such a second bow; but three complete concentric bows, or three arcs of bows, are never seen at Niagara, nor anywhere else.
George William Curtis, in "Lotus Eating," records,--
"There [at the Cave of the Winds], at sunset, and there only, you may see three circular rainbows, one within another,"--
He does not say, "complete circles"; he doubtless meant "arcs." He does not say he saw them; so in the absence of a more definite statement, it was certainly merely hearsay to which he referred.
John R. Barlow, who has been a guide at the Cave of the Winds for over thirty years, says that on numerous occasions during that period he has seen two complete circular Rainbows at one time, at that point. He observed it twice, and only twice, in 1905.
In 1872, Professor Tyndall, with Barlow as his guide, made an exhaustive study of the Goat Island ends of the American and Horse-Shoe Falls. As he was gazing at a complete Rainbow circle, Barlow told him that he had sometimes seen two complete concentric bows at one time. "That is possible," replied Tyndall.
"And I have heard people say they have seen three such bows; though I myself have never seen the third," said Barlow.
"Because it is an impossibility," answered Tyndall. "The second bow is merely the reflexion of the first. A third bow would be a shadow of a shadow; and no one can see that."
Had this Legend of Healing been found recorded in any of the early chronicles, it would have been the earliest known reference to Niagara in its relation to Medicine; and would have associated the Cataract therewith long, long before the advent of the white man.
But, alas! it is not so found; and no trace of it can be met with, until a very recent date. It has so much the appearance of a made-to-order story, such a specially-prepared-to-fit-the-locality aspect, it savors so strongly of an attempt to make the early Indian Mythology conform to the Christian story of the "Bow of Promise," that its Aboriginal authenticity may well be doubted.