5 AUGUST 1899, Page 14

GERSOPPA v. NIAGARA. [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. "] SIR, —With

reference to your footnote in reply to "A. B.'s " letter, permit me to suggest there is a slight misunderstand- ing. The falls on the Godavary cannot by any stretch of the imagination be described as " larger and more magnificent than Niagara." So far as my memory serves me, I should say they are not above forty feet high, if as much. You evidently intended to refer to the Gersoppa Falls on the Sharavatti River in South Kinara. Sir William Hunter says; " These falls surpass any other waterfall in India, and, in the com- bined attributes of height, volume of water, and picturesque situation, have few rivals in the world." The river is two hundred and fifty yards wide, the clear fall is eight hundred and thirty feet. The Gersoppa, Falls, in the rainy season, are incomparably finer than Niagara in every respect; the roar of the falling waters is simply terrific, the whole earth shakes and the thunder is so great that it completely drowns the human voice. When I visited Niagara and told my American friends about Gersoppa they replied with polite incredulity: " We never heard of Gersoppa." I replied: " Make your minds easy, the people at Gersoppa have never beard of Niagara." If Niagara could see Gersoppa she would wrap her head in a mist.—I am, Sir, &c., Liverpool, July 81st. FREDER1CR DRESSER.

[Our correspondent is right ; our reference should have b.,n to the falls of the Sharavatti.—ED. Spectator.]