There is nothing surprising in America in the qualificative uncle, for you can there be uncle without having either nephew or niece.

There they speak of uncle as in other places they speak of father, though the father may have had no children.
Uncle Prudent was a personage of consideration, and in spite of his name was well known for his audacity.

He was very rich, and that is no drawback even in the United States; and how could it be otherwise when he owned the greater part of the shares in Niagara Falls?
A society of engineers had just been founded at Buffalo for working the cataract.

It seemed to be an excellent speculation.

The seven thousand five hundred cubic meters that pass over Niagara in a second would produce seven millions of horsepower.