A tour through North America

Journey from Geneva to Lewistown—Land offered for Sale—Canandaigua—Genesee Country—Variations of Temperature—Agricultural Notices—American and Scotch notions of Reverted Wheat—Genesee Flats—Mr Wadesworth—Avon—Wood Bridges—Girdling Trees—Falls of the Genesee—Rochester—Ridge Road—Face of the Country.

We left Geneva in the morning by a stage-coach, and after travelling through a country of clay soil, badly farmed, but bearing excellent wheat crops, arrived at Canandaigua. Having a letter to a Scotch gentleman residing there, I discovered him by his national appearance when riding on the street. I was gratified at visiting him, and in viewing his new house and fine garden, one of the rarest sights in America. The necessity of proceeding with the object of my tour, prevented me sharing his sincere hospitality, and I returned to Blossom’s Hotel, and dined in an excellent room of large dimensions. In the afternoon we walked four miles in the direction of Mills, to view some lands for sale, and found the soil and wheat crops on the road generally good. For fine cleared land $25 per acre was asked; and a person accosted me on the road and offered his farm of 100 acres, and his father’s of the same extent, with suitable offices, at $28 per acre. Almost every farmer in the eastern States who has a family, or is in straitened circumstances, is willing to sell his land and move to the western States, where he can obtain soil of equal quality, and in a finer climate, at a twentieth part of the price; and foreigners, who are easily known, and supposed to be in search of land, are constantly asked to purchase farms.

Canandaigua is situated near the outlet of the Lake of the same name, which is navigated by a steam-boat. The principal street extends back on rising ground nearly two miles, and consists of separate villas, as white and clean as paint can make them, with green Venetian blinds, situated at some distance from the street, and surrounded with umbrageous vegetation, which at this warm season imparted an appearance of coolness and luxury. Besides a garden in front, crowded with rose bushes bearing a profusion of flowers, many villas have a considerable extent of ground behind, capable of maintaining animals, and affording every family convenience. The buildings and beauty of Canandaigua surpass any place I have seen out of New England; and the wealth and comfort of its inhabitants may be owing to its early erection and situation in the Genesee country, the most celebrated wheat district in America.

The Genesee country was sold by the State of Massachusetts to Messrs Gorham and Phelps, who obtained 6,000,000 acres, at about eightpence sterling per acre; but finding difficulty in fulfiling their bargain, the land passed into other hands, and part of the country now belongs to the Pulteney family of England.

We left Canandaigua by a stage-coach at three o’clock in the morning, and suffered considerably from cold. When day dawned, a little after four o’clock, my thermometer, exposed on the outside of the stage, indicated 43°, and at Allanshill, on the outside of the hotel window, 45°. On different occasions I experienced inconvenience from variations of temperature in America, which are greater and as frequent as those of Britain. We reached the village of Genesee early in the forenoon, and from the courts being then sitting, could not be received where the stages stopped. The landlord and driver were not accommodating, but we soon found a very attentive hotel-keeper in a different part of the village.

The surface of the country, from Canandaigua to Genesee, is undulating and picturesque, but ill cultivated. The wheat crops generally good, and a considerable extent of ground preparing for fallow, by breaking up grass land which had been depastured. In some cases, four oxen and a horse were dragging a plough, a boy riding the horse in front, and a driver to the oxen. In every case, a driver was employed with oxen, and horses generally ridden by boys when in the plough, which, I supposed, was owing to their being little accustomed to this kind of labour.

I had observed the wheat crops of America abounding with a species of grass passing by the name of chess, which I imagine to be the Bromus secalinus of botanists, and which I have seen in the wheat crops of Surrey, England, and south of Ireland. A passenger between Canandaigua and Genesee, stated, that chess was reverted wheat, and originated from an inclement season, or bad seed, an opinion which I found pretty general in the States and Canada. This doctrine was made known to me by letters in the Genesee Farmers’ newspaper, published at Rochester, numbers of which I received in Scotland, but it is so different to my observation and reflection, that I told the passenger, I would as soon expect a horse to become a pig, as wheat chess. From extensive observation in remote parts of America, I have not a doubt of chess being indigenous to the soil, and hence its growth amongst wheat crops, where the farmer did not sow its seeds.

Akin to the notion of wheat reverting to chess, is that of the same grain changing to darnel (Lolium temuluctum), lately advanced in Scotland, where the plant is provincially called sleepies. Botanists assign original types for cultivated plants, but farmers seem not to be agreed about that of wheat. Americans may arrange themselves on the side of chess, Scotchmen that of darnel, without throwing light on the subject. A plant cannot change from one species to another, or the vegetable kingdom would pass into confusion. Wheat, chess, and darnel, are distinct species.

Having heard much of the Genesee flats, I proceeded to call on their owner, on arriving at Genesee. Mr Wadesworth had gone to a distant part of the country, one of his sons being the only member of the family at home, and who had rode out after breakfast. On calling a second time, the young gentleman pointed out the way to the flats, where he said he would join us in an hour afterwards.

The Genesee flats belonging to Mr Wadesworth, are rich alluvial soil, ornamented with aged trees, deposited in groups and at intervals; and perhaps no gentleman’s park in Britain equals them in fertility and beauty. They differ from the rest of the surface in this part of the country, by having been cleared by nature, and are chiefly in grass, affording the richest pasturage I ever saw, with exception of some fields in the neighbourhood of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. On examining some parts which had never been subjected to the plough, red and white clovers were particularly abundant, also timothy grass (Phleum pratense), and several kinds of poea. Cocksfoot was less common, and a few spikes of tall oat-like grass (Holcus avenaceus). Rye-grass or yellow-flowering clovers were not visible. A field was pointed out which had been mown for hay thirty-five successive years, without top-dressing, and the grasses were still in vigour of growth, interspersed with red clover nearly thirty inches high.

The young gentleman joined us on the flats, and pointed out every thing deserving of notice. The sheep were a mixture of Merino and Saxon breeds, and not fat looking. There was a fine short-horn bull, intended to improve the dairy stock, which I did not see. This contemplated improvement originated from perusing the writings of the Rev. Henry Berry of England; and I took the liberty of advising the cross to be tried on a small scale, believing the short-horns the worst milking breed in Britain. This opinion was new to the gentleman, who said he would keep it in view, and proceed cautiously in intermixing the breeds. The grazing cattle were extremely numerous—four-year-olds, which had been bought in spring, and kept on hay till the arrival of grass, on which they are to be fatted. Mr Wadesworth intends to cultivate wheat extensively; and one enclosure, as a beginning, was bearing an indifferent crop. I have often observed wheat not succeed well on very rich ground, and that, in Britain, the United States, and Canada, soils which have been long under cultivation, yield the best crops of this grain when properly managed. There was a variety of implements which brought to recollection those at Holkham, Norfolk, England. Amongst others, a mowing machine was exhibited and descanted on. We were shown a fine oak-tree growing on the banks of the river, and said to be twenty-four feet in circumference.

We passed the evening at the house of Mr Wadesworth, in agreeable and instructive conversation with the young gentleman, whose acquirements and intelligence were of a superior description. He expressed regret at the necessity of leaving home next day, but offered to place at my disposal his father’s carriage, horses, and driver, with introductory letters to his friends in the neighbourhood, and said he himself would show us the country on the day following. Time would not admit of embracing the kind offer, and I notice this attention as creditable to a person of the highest influence and station, on whose good offices I had no claim. It has been my fortune to experience attention from eminent agriculturists in all ranks of life in Britain, and while the heart must be held as the seat of kindness, I can bear testimony to having found true agricultural knowledge, distinguished from what is empirical, connected with expansion of mind and liberality of sentiment.^[1]

Next morning we left Genesee and passed through Avon, frequented for its mineral springs, and beauty of situation. While the horses were changing, we found many people indulging in copious draughts of water, which I prevailed on my friend D—— to taste, when he amused the bystanders by making a wry face, and exclaiming in a serious tone of voice, “Do people really drink that for health?” We dined at a stage house, and were much annoyed by a tipsy person whose impertinence called for an exercise of patience. He was descended of Irish parents, said to possess property, and seemingly an excellent customer to the bar-room. On reaching Rochester, I remarked to the driver, that he seemed to be traversing the same street twice in setting down passengers, and learned that he was afraid to cross a certain bridge, through which one of his horses fell a few days before and broke a leg. Few things in America appear more striking to a Briton than the wretched state of the wooden bridges, a material which he does not associate with strength or durability. We took up our quarters at the Eagle tavern, the landlord of which was attentive and accommodating.

The soil from Genesee to Rochester is chiefly clay, bearing excellent wheat, and nineteen-twentieths of the land in crop was producing this grain. I observed a good wheat crop amongst girdled oak-trees, in a field of considerable extent. Girdling is effected by cutting a ring through the bark round the tree, which does not again put forth leaves, by which sun beams and air are admitted to plants on the surface of the earth. This mode of improvement is only followed amongst oaks, the roots of which strike perpendicularly into the earth, and consequently are favourable to the progress of the plough; but the trees become more obdurate, and girdling is only excusable in the first operations of a new settler.

We lost no time in viewing the sights of Rochester, the chief of which is the fall of the Genesee river, ninety-seven feet in height, and celebrated by the ill-fated leap of Sam Patch in 1829. We enjoyed a walk down the banks of the stream on a lovely evening, but the scenery in the neighbourhood of the fall has been injured by the erection of machinery propelled by the water. The flour mills are numerous, and on the most extensive scale, said to be capable of manufacturing 12,000 bushels of wheat in twenty-four hours. There is an arcade, extolled by the inhabitants, but possessing no attractions to individuals who have seen those of other countries. Rochester is one of the many places illustrative of the growing wealth and population of the United States, and which some English travellers ridicule for want of antiquity, on the principle a withered old beau affects to despise the freshness and elasticity of youth. The first settlement took place in 1812, and the population is now estimated at about 14,000. The situation of the town, communicating with Lake Erie, and the extensive waters to the west, by means of the Erie canal, which is carried over the river in the middle of the town by an aqueduct of free stone, 800 feet long—with Lake Ontario by a railroad—with Montreal by the St Lawrence, and with New York by the Hudson, together with its splendid water power, renders its increase of wealth and population almost without limits.

Next morning we set out for Lewistown by way of Lockport, travelling on what is termed the ridge-road, a natural formation extending round the south end of Lake Ontario, at a distance of eight or ten miles from the present waters, and nearly a hundred feet higher. It is from twenty-five to fifty feet wide, fifteen to twenty feet above the surrounding country, and composed of sand and gravel. The road is supposed to have formed the margin of the lake at some remote period of the world, but I had not sufficient opportunity to form an opinion on this point.

The country through which we travelled, after leaving Rochester, is more recently settled than any yet seen, the fields being thickly covered with black stumps overtopping the wheat crops; and the felling and burning of trees was going on in all directions. The houses were mere log-huts, and wanting in external comforts. The warm state of the weather induced the inhabitants to throw open the doors and windows, affording an opportunity of seeing the internal arrangements, and I can testify to their well-stored tables and general neatness. The crops were bad, and much of the soil so inferior as not likely to repay those engaged in clearing it of timber.

After a fatiguing ride, we reached Lewistown, a thriving village, at midnight, and found the bar-keeper and porter of the hotel intoxicated, which was the only instance of the kind I met during my transatlantic tour. By this time we had learned to take things as we found them, and in a few minutes our baggage and selves were in bedrooms without assistance.

Niagara River and Falls—Carving—Entrance to Canada—Cavern beneath the Falls—Rapids—City Building—Stage Passenger—General Brock’s Monument—Letters—Maps—Queenstown and Niagara—Agricultural Notices—King—Old Settlers—Disappointment with Canada.

Aware of being near the Niagara river, which connects Lake Erie with Ontario, and which forms the St Lawrence, my first proceeding in the morning was to obtain a sight of this stream, from the window. The sun shone brightly, and displayed to advantage the white painted houses and endless forest, but there was no feature indicating a river. On walking a short distance from the hotel I unexpectedly found myself on the banks of the Niagara, moving in the midst of a flat country, betwixt low woodless banks void of beauty. On the opposite side lay Upper Canada; the village of Queenstown was seen in the distance, over which Sir Isaac Brock’s monument was towering. I looked on the scene with feelings of a British subject, and, with a thousand associations rushing on my mind, anticipated new enjoyment from mingling with the inhabitants.

After breakfast we were seated in a stage on the way to the Falls of Niagara, winding up a steep hill, corresponding with elevated ground on the Canada side, called the heights of Queenstown. From the summit, the passengers expatiated on the extent and beauty of the prospect, but being unfortunately seated between two stout individuals, I was deprived of seeing objects at a distance. I could, however, perceive that the banks of the river, along which we travelled, underwent a change on reaching the height, being rocky, precipitous, and deep. It is conjectured, and appearances support the theory, that the cataract of Niagara once poured its torrents over this spot, and that it has receded to its present position, seven miles distant, by the gradual wearing of the rock. The soil from Lewistown, along the river, is inferior, bearing bad crops.

On reaching the village of Manchester, situated on the rapids of the river, we instantly sallied forth to view the Falls of Niagara, which I had long considered the most wonderful sight in the world. A remarkable and fragile-looking bridge leads across the rapids to Goat island, and we soon stood on what is termed the American falls, formed by that part of the river passing on the south side of the island.

I know not whether it was owing to unreasonable expectations, or the magnitude and sublimity of the object, that I felt disappointed on first viewing the falls. Instead of being riveted to the spot in breathless agitation, and soul-thrilling delight, a feeling of uneasiness stole over me, from which I sought relief by culling a variety of plants from the edge of the cataract. But every sight afforded additional pleasure, and hours flitted away in gazing on their endless beauties.

On returning to the hotel, a large and good establishment, numerous visitors of the falls had assembled for dinner, to which they did justice, thinking, perhaps, the grosser senses entitled in turn to gratification. Guests are not expected to carve, waiters either doing so, or carrying dishes to those wishing to help themselves. The numerous company induced me to cut up a joint, and having served a dozen of individuals, I was about to help myself, when the fragments were expeditiously carried off and placed before a gentleman at the extremity of the table. Amused at the way I had been treated, I resolved to involve a companion in the disappointment, by asking him to help me to mutton. He complied, and no other person was so honoured during his tour. Foreigners may well be excused carving, their utmost exertions being required to finish meals with the natives.

Immediately after dinner we set out for the Pavilion House, a celebrated hotel in Canada, a porter conveying our luggage in a barrow to the ferry, which we reached by descending a wooden spiral staircase. The river is 1200 yards broad. The agitated state of the waters conveys an idea of danger, and we were landed safely on the opposite beach in 14 minutes, having been drenched in crossing by the spray of the falls. Mr D—— remained with the luggage, while we went in search of assistance to transport it. Two men of colour were met carrying trunks to the ferry, who brought ours on their return.

On the Canada side of the river, a wide road winds up the steep bank, at the top of which were carriages of different descriptions, and people walking to and fro. The ascent being long and difficult, afforded time for observation. Banks, rocks, trees, carriages, and people, appeared like those I had been accustomed to of late, and no important object indicated a change of territory. But characters of countries and individuals may sometimes be learned from trifles. On walking up the banks of the river, an elevated board attracted notice, containing the following inscription:—“All persons found on these grounds will be prosecuted.” This was so unlike any thing I had seen in the States, that it impressed me with an idea I had left the land of liberality, if not of liberty, and recalled associations connected with notice-boards of Scotland regarding steel-traps, spring-guns, and prosecutions according to law, which deface the country, and exhibit the characters of those who erect them.

The banks of the Niagara from the ferry to the Pavilion is the loveliest and most interesting portion of the globe. At the point where the footpath diverges is the Table rock, affording the best view of the Horse-shoe fall, one of the most splendid earthly objects the eye of man can behold. We reached the hotel in time for tea. Our bedroom windows overlooked the cataract, whose murmurings soon lulled us to repose.

Next morning, when the sun was peeping above the horizon, and ere the vapour had melted before his rays, we were at the Table rock, gazing with increased pleasure at the Horse-shoe fall, preparatory to entering the cavern below it. In a small shanty we changed our clothes for sailcloth dresses kept for visitors, and, laughing at our grotesque appearance, descended a spiral stair to the level of the river. The guide led the way, and after a considerable battering of spray and wind in passing the verge of the cataract, the interior of the cave was comparatively serene. We penetrated 153 feet to the Termination rock, where we conversed without difficulty, in a peculiar greenish light, the sun being distinctly visible through the falling sheet of water. The pathway is strewed with loose stones—the debris of the falling rock—and unpleasantly narrow. The guide seemed impatient to regain the outside, and I experienced no difficulty in breathing, or uneasiness of any kind. Next day I repeated my visit, when the spray and wind were much more powerful. On this occasion, Mr C—— and I were preceded by three Yankee youths, two of whom lost courage on encountering the spray, and nearly overturned us in their hurried retreat. There is little danger in a pilgrimage to the Termination rock, and nothing to affect the nerves of an ordinary person, or to reward him, beyond the glory of having made it, and enjoying the finest of shower-baths, formed by the spray of the falling water.

The currents of air acting on the soft under stratum in the cave, is the primary cause of the lime rock giving way, over which the water pours, but how they should vary so much is not easily accounted for. At both visits the external atmosphere was still, but I did not remark the direction of the wind, or revolve the matter in my mind. Air mingled with water will at all times pass over the cataract, and the current in the cave may either proceed from the agitated water below being incapable of containing the same quantity of air as that above, or from wind passing through the falling sheet, as sunbeams do through glass.

At my first visit to the cave I lifted an eel about the centre, and restored it to the water. A toad was near the falling sheet, in full vigour of life, and on my second visit there was one near the same spot. In the channel of the river, and amidst the thickest vapour, swallows were whirling at all times, and occasionally seemed to pass within a few inches of the surface of the most impetuous part of the Horse-shoe fall. The suction and danger of the falls seem to have been exaggerated, and the noise and terror said to be experienced on viewing them, either do not exist, or my feelings were insensible to them.

At twilight of the evening of 1st July, I walked up the Niagara to deliver an introductory letter, when I was so much gratified with a sight of the rapids, that my friends accompanied me next night at the same hour. No person who has not seen the rapids can form a just estimate of the quantity and force of water descending the cataract. When standing at the verge of the river, a hundred yards below the grist mills, and looking up the stream, the most obtuse feelings cannot fail of being touched with the spectacle. Such is the breadth and descent of the river, that the water forms the visible horizon; and the mighty stream, in waving folds, seems issuing from the firmament. The sun had sunk to rest; the evening was soothingly still; the thin clouds of vapour rising from the falls curled gracefully over Goat island, and were lost in the distance. The agitated rapids formed a contrast with the serene sky emblematical of troubled earth and calm heaven.

Conscious of my inability to do justice, in the way of description, to the Falls of Niagara, when so many higher-gifted individuals have failed in the attempt, the works of travellers must be consulted by those interested in the matter. They will find descriptions, like the actual falls, abounding in so many beauties, that readers, like visitors, may select what is suited to their taste. Visitors, however, ought to perambulate the banks of the river and islands in the neighbourhood of the falls, and begin with the American or Canada side, according to their temperament. As few seem capable of appreciating the magnificence of the sight at first, it will generally be found the best policy to begin with the American side, which affords opportunity of seeing both falls; while the Horse-shoe and rapids from the Canadian side, the sublimest objects of the scene, are reserved for the last.

Two rival companies have commenced building villas on the Canada side of the Niagara, and in all probability will lead to the embellishment and improvement of the banks in the vicinity of the falls. The period has not yet, however, arrived for the population resorting to villas in Canada for a few months in summer; and city building at the falls seems as visionary an undertaking as could at present be entered into.

On the morning after our arrival at the Pavilion, we entered a stage for the village of Niagara, formerly Newark, distant twenty miles, and found a passenger railing at delay. His dialect marked him from the north of Scotland; he could not be made to comprehend the distinction between the rivers Niagara and St Lawrence, and amused us by some remarks on different subjects. The beef of Canada, he said, was so tough that teeth could not chew it; and on being reminded his might not now have so keen an edge as when in Scotland, replied, there could be no great change on them, as he came to this country last fall; but when in the old country he only got beef once a-week on Sunday, here he had it three times a-day. The road is full of interest, from recent historical events, and was fringed with various kinds of fruit-trees, bending under an abundant crop. On reaching the heights of Queenstown, five or six individuals left the stage and went to the top of General Brock’s monument, erected by the Government of Upper Canada to commemorate the services of that officer, who fell in the moment of victory during the last war with the States. The heights afford a sweet view of the junction of the Niagara with lake Ontario, and the surrounding country; the monument commanding a wider range of landscape, without diversifying the scene, and certainly does not reward the labour of reaching the summit. The party joined the stage at Queenstown, and soon reached Niagara, having deposited a passenger at the steam-boat on the river before entering the village.

My friend D—— found letters at the post-office of Niagara, but the like fortune did not attend me, although our letters are said to have been put into the same post-office in Scotland, and similarly directed. I did not receive a letter from Britain while across the Atlantic, but my communications regularly reached their destination in Scotland. The post-office of the United States seems well conducted, but I experienced proofs to the contrary with that of Canada.

Few countries are better provided with maps than the United States, pocket ones being everywhere to be had, and the walls of hotels covered with them and information regarding stages and routes. We could not obtain a map of Canada, the booksellers of Niagara informing us a pocket one of the country never had been published, and almost nothing could be learned about mails and stages, which nearly placed us in the situation of pursuing our route blindfold. Dining at the village, we returned to the Pavilion in an extra, which corresponds to the post-chaise of Britain; and I took an opportunity of delivering some letters by the way. Queenstown and Niagara are mean dirty-looking villages, apparently without trade, and very unlike the clean bustling places on the opposite side of the river. The bar-rooms of the hotels we entered were filled with swearing tipsy people, and the establishments badly conducted, from the stage-coach to the presenting of butter; which, instead of being, as in the States, hardened by means of ice, was an unclean liquid.

Between the falls and village of Niagara the soil is partly clay and partly sand, both seemingly of indifferent quality, and bearing bad crops. The farm-houses are untidy, and the fences look old and dilapidated. No trace of recent improvement could be discovered, and the state of agriculture seemed stationary.

I had a letter to Mr ——, whom I was requested to visit, as he had been nearly half a century in Canada, and possessed some fine farms in the neighbourhood of the falls. On enquiring at the landlord of the Pavilion, if he knew any thing of the gentleman to whom the letter was addressed, I learned he was a little king in this part of the world, with whom the landlord himself had served when a boy. Impressed with the rank of the person, I asked if I might venture to breakfast with him next morning. Yes, was the reply, you will be sure to get every thing of the best. The import of my question being misunderstood, I was told it was unnecessary to announce my visit beforehand. I requested an extra to be in readiness to carry us to ——, and retired to rest, meditating on the treat expected from walking over some of the finest farms in Canada, in company with King ——. Next morning rain fell in torrents, which detained us till after breakfast, when we travelled by the way of St David’s, and at length the extra drew up at the door of a small wooden cottage. No time was lost in delivering and reading the letters; and I regretted to observe a restraint in the family, arising, perhaps, from the extra, which probably was the only one that ever approached their dwelling. When engaged in putting questions regarding farming, in presence of father and son, the old gentleman said he would send for his man Peter, as best qualified to answer me. Peter was from Stirlingshire, Scotland—had been several years in the country, and possessed more information and address than any of the royal family. He told me farm-labourers receive $10 a-month when engaged by the year, with board. In winter, labour can scarcely be obtained at $6 a-month, and boys sometimes engage for their food. Canadians drink less spirits than they did at one time, and they are not now served to labourers in the field. King —— and Prince —— boasted of making their farm implements, which a mechanic could have done at half the labour, and of treading out the wheat crop with horses. The day continuing wet, prevented a walk over the dominions, and we returned to the Pavilion in time for dinner, to the expressed regret of Mr ——, who was as kind as possible; but a prolonged stay might not have been agreeable to either party. The interior of the house presented few marks of comfort, according to my notions at the time, although after experience in Canada enables me to say it was respectable in this view.

The old settlers are evidently the least enterprising class. Having come to the country uncultivated themselves, and ever since living without intercourse with the world, they seem content with the necessaries of life, which are easily obtained. Their descendants imbibe the same sentiments and habits; and before the first settled portions of Upper Canada can be farther improved, the present farmers must either sell to others of more enterprise, or another generation arise with new opinions.

I could no longer conceal the disappointment experienced with Canada and its inhabitants. The Pavilion House, so much praised by travellers, lately purchased by a company, and puffed off by advertisements, was greatly inferior to the hotels in the States. The manners and customs of the people were essentially Yankee, with less intelligence, civility, and sobriety. The houses and fences were inferior to those of any district yet seen, and instead of the youthfulness and never-ceasing activity of the States, there seemed the listless repose of doating age. The brute creation partook of the change—horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs, being inferior to those on the opposite side of the frontier. If such was the state of things in Niagara district—the paradise of Upper Canada—little could be expected from other parts of the province. My friends, at first, seemed to regard my opinions as more the result of prejudice than observation, but in a few days after, they drew a contrast less favourable to Canada than I had done. No unprejudiced traveller can spend a few hours on either side of the frontier line without remarking the difference of the two countries, and as the people, soil, and climate, were originally alike, the circumstances in which the inhabitants have been placed must alone account for the dissimilarity. If governments affect the state of countries, politicians would do well to visit both sides of the river Niagara.

Baffled in reaching the Western States—Buffalo—4th of July—Oneida Indians—Fort Erie—Early Marriages—David Baxter—Petersburgh—Separate from Companions—Musquittoes—Settlers around Dunville—Earing of Wheat—Dunville—Face of the Country—Notices of Nature—Breaking Fruit-trees—Bar-room Group—Junction with Companions—Visit a New Settler—Politicians—Hamilton—York.

As it was my intention to visit the Western States of the Union, my friends agreed to accompany me round the north side of Lake Erie, and cross over to Cleveland, proceeding down the Ohio canal and river, passing north, through Illinois and Michigan, east by Upper and Lower Canada, and to Britain by the St Lawrence. We could not get information regarding roads or conveyances at the Pavilion, which we left in a stage for Buffalo on the morning of the 3d July, to push our way in the best manner we could, having forwarded our heavy luggage to York. The day being fine, the drive was delightful up the banks of the Niagara; here a broad smooth flowing stream, divided by islands, and a few feet below the surrounding country. The river does not at any time overflow its banks, seldom varying ten inches in depth, a peculiarity arising from the lakes, through which the waters flow, acting as reservoirs. The soil is clay of good quality, badly fenced, without indication of recent improvements, and appearances did not bespeak wealth or industry in the inhabitants. At the village of Waterloo, we crossed the river in a four-horse ferry-boat, and after passing through a country of recently cleared and inferior soil, reached the Eagle tavern at Buffalo in time for dinner, served in a well-lighted room, 93 feet long, and crowded with company.

Buffalo is situated in the extremity of Lake Erie, at the mouth of the Erie canal, and is the depôt of commerce passing between the Eastern and Western States. In 1814, the village was reduced to one house, having been burned by the enemy. Now it contains many brick houses of large size; and I was struck with the stores, or warehouses, at the wharf, and the immense quantity of merchandise they contained. It is the chief port on the lake for steam-boats—a daily line sailing for Detroit, one of which, in course of the season, was said to have left the pier with 800 passengers on board. The Americans have fifteen steam-boats on the lake, many of them of the largest size, and four are building. The British had not one at this time—two small boats having been launched in course of the season, were undergoing repair, after having made a trip or two. American steamers do not touch at any port on the Canada side of Lake Erie, with exception of Amherstburgh, on the river Detroit.

The 4th July is a holiday over the Union, being the anniversary of American independence, and was ushered in at Buffalo with firing of guns, and other demonstrations of joy. All was again quiet by breakfast time; and a procession was to take place at noon. Approving of keeping such a day in remembrance, as impressing the mind of youth with love of liberty, I felt inclined to witness the proceedings, but the necessity of continuing my journey induced me to abandon the idea.

After breakfast, we got on board a miserable steamer of eight horse power, which landed us at Fort Erie in Canada. On the wharf at Buffalo we saw a number of the Oneida tribe of Indians, on their way to Greenbay, a branch of Lake Michigan. This tribe having sold their lands in the state of New York, government was conveying them to their new possessions. The poor creatures were standing in groups, dressed in their best attire, and many young and old of both sexes stupified by intoxication. I particularly remarked a grey-haired aged female, with a countenance of the deepest suffering, bearing in her arms a child of spurious origin. These descendants of the original owners of the soil have been gradually deprived of their birthright; and although Greenbay is 1000 miles from their old habitations, the white man in progress of time will envy their new possessions, and the poor Indian will retire still farther to the west, if drunkenness, and other vices acquired from the whites, do not exterminate the race.

On landing at Fort Erie, consisting of four or five houses, I was disappointed at finding that a gentleman, to whom I had a letter, resided three miles from the fort, and that it was doubtful if we could make our way round the south side of the lake, there being no regular conveyance of any kind; but I flattered myself if we could reach Gravelbay, at the mouth of the Welland canal, all difficulty would be over; and after some little enquiry, we succeeded in engaging a farmer to drive us there in his waggon.

I delivered letters, and dined at Fort Erie, where a pretty little miss, when enquiring about her friends at Edinburgh, said her cousin, Mrs ——, was old when married. On replying I did not think so, she added, “O yes—quite old; she was six-and-twenty.” This lady’s opinion of marriage was pretty well expressed, and I hope she may not be disappointed in her own fate. The people of America marry early. When at Montreal, a couple was pointed out, the lady being only thirteen years of age.

The waggon arrived soon after dinner, driven by its owner, Mr David Baxter, so much improved by change of dress, that I had difficulty in recognising him. He was son of a captain of militia, farmed 100 acres, and owned 200 more in the London district, yet he readily left his employment, and engaged to carry us nineteen miles for 8s. 6d. sterling. The horses were excellent, and he said to them a thousand times, “Jim and Jerry, go-a-long; bid you both; what-you-bout? wheel-away;” and being good-humoured and intelligent, time passed pleasantly in the waggon.

For eight or nine miles the shores of Lake Erie resembled the beach of the sea. The country at some distance was wet and partly newly cleared; the ridges eight or ten feet wide; crops, with exception of some wheat-fields, indifferent, and included a considerable extent of peas. Houses were mean; the inhabitants ragged and dirty. Cattle were small and lean. Many pigs were pictures of starvation; and on the 5th July their winter hair was hanging on them in matted masses, like the wool of sheep. At dusk, we reached a few log-houses, called Petersburgh, on the Welland canal, where we had one bed assigned to three of us, which was occupied by two, the third reposing on a chest, with a great coat below, and a cloak above him.

We rose at four o’clock next morning, and walked down the banks of the canal to its junction with the lake, and some miles to the west, to see a property for sale belonging to Mr ——, for which $10 per acre was asked. After breakfast, we expected a waggon and a pair of horses to take us to Dunville, but the waggon being engaged in carrying hay, a small boat was provided to carry our luggage up the canal to the junction of the feeder from the grand river, in hope of getting a conveyance to Dunville. On learning the passage-boat was expected from, instead of going to Dunville, my companions became angry, and announced their intention of returning to Britain without loss of time, by way of the St Lawrence, a piece of intelligence not altogether unexpected. The luggage was the chief obstacle to our progress; and if it could have been dispensed with, they might have been induced to persevere. It was arranged that they should proceed down the canal to St Catherine’s, and wait my arrival at Hamilton.

I proceeded on foot to Dunville, distant eighteen miles, dining on poor fare at Marshville. On passing Cranberry-marsh, I was attacked by musquittoes, which clustered chiefly behind my ears, and defended myself for two hours by waving the branch of a tree in each hand, reaching my destination after nightfall, having walked fifteen hours in course of the day. My repose was disturbed by the nibbling of musquittoes; and on rising at daybreak, I found vegetation most copiously covered with dew.

In the course of the day I visited settlers in the neighbourhood of Dunville, resident from a few weeks to three years, and found them leading lives of privation and hardship. In every instance, they were cheerful and looking with confidence to futurity; but it was evident to me they, generally, had entangled themselves with an extent of possession far beyond their means of paying for, and at a price so much beyond its real value, that accumulation of interest on the purchase money would ultimately weigh down the utmost industry. I felt for their situation; but the morning of first settlement shone so brightly, that prognostics of a coming storm would have been disregarded, and considered unkind. First crops on small clearances were half suffocated for want of air, and what came under notice, satisfied me that a settler in the forest, trusting alone to his own labour, will have difficulty in raising sufficient food for a family during the first three years.

The wheat crop of Upper Canada is sown in autumn, termed fall in this part of the world; that of the Lower Province in spring. I was informed fall-wheat sown in spring does not put forth the ear until that time twelve-months, while the wheat of Lower Canada produces a good crop in August following; and in corroboration was shown, on the 7th July, a crop of wheat just coming into ear of the spring wheat of the country, while one from seed, brought from Roxburghshire, Scotland, sown under a parity of circumstance, was only a few inches high, without indication of shooting into ear. This appearing inexplicable, induced me to bring home samples of fall and spring wheats, the plants from which were destroyed at Mungoswells by hares. I found, however, plants from Scotch wheat sown in the garden did not show a disposition to ear when sown in the middle of May. The effects of climate on the non-earing of wheat seems the same in Britain as in Upper Canada.

Dunville is situated on the Ouse, or Grand River, four miles from its mouth, and where the feeder of the Welland canal branches off, by means of a dam eight feet high. There are about twenty small wooden houses, a grist and saw-mill. The river is navigable to the lake, and it is said to be in contemplation to render it so as far as Brantford by means of locks. Dunville may increase in progress of time; at present it stands amidst stagnant waters, and is a perfect bull-frog and musquitto nursery.

It was my intention to have walked up the river, and across the country to Hamilton, but learning that a friend, whose dwelling I had passed, resided near the Falls of Niagara, induced me to change my route. I left Dunville at five in the morning, passing along the feeder and canal to Port Robinson, and from thence by Lundyslane to my friend’s house.

The country at the junction of the Welland canal with Lake Erie is little cleared, and few habitations or traces of cultivation are met with on the banks or feeder. Many trees have perished, from stagnant water, on the margins of the feeder, and impart a gloomy aspect to the scene. Part of Cranberry-marsh is seen on the banks of the feeder; the soil is peat-moss, thickly covered with stunted larch-trees, ten to twenty feet high; and the water is yellow coloured, but not unpleasant to the taste. A plough, drawn by four oxen, was turning over part of the marsh bearing grass twenty inches in height, and five or six Irishmen planting it with potatoes on 6th July. The country improved on descending the canal, and the banks of the Chippeway were well cleared; the soil is dry, and some good crops of wheat and grass were seen. Cattle and sheep were in considerable numbers; the inhabitants seemed wealthy, and resided in good houses.

When near Dunville I saw, for the first time, wood-pigeons and humming-birds, also a few carrion crows and herons, similar to those of Britain, and different kinds of hawks. On the south from the canal, annual thistles and wild mustard were growing; and on the north bank of the feeder red and white French willow, the latter having afterwards been seen only in one situation.

After an agreeable visit my friends drove me to St Catherine’s next day, to get the stage for Hamilton. On the way we met an Irish funeral, accompanied by waggons filled with both sexes, who, on approaching, descended, and broke immense branches from cherry-trees, loaded with ripe fruit. The owner of the trees halloed to the depredators in vain, and I felt indignant that they should composedly take the fruit, and destroy the trees. I was told it is customary for the people of the country to help themselves to peaches and other kinds of fruit in the same way.

While waiting for the arrival of the coach, I strolled into the bar-room of the hotel, which would be better named bear-room, and witnessed a group deserving the pencil of Cruikshank to immortalize them. The landlord, a little, spruce, talkative Yankee, was swinging in the chair, with his legs on the table; another individual was sitting with his face to the back of the chair, a third stretched at full length on the table; and one occupied two chairs. The forms were adorned in a similar manner, and there was only one person sitting in an upright position by the wall, fast asleep, in a state of intoxication. The subject of discussion was a riot on the 4th July, the anniversary of North American independence. Some boys of the village were innocently firing guns in the morning in rear of the hotel, with which they had no connexion. The landlord being a Yankee, the firing was considered insulting to the British government: a multitude assembled, broke the windows, and attempted to set fire to the hotel. The mob was said to have been headed by a justice of the peace. My friend, who drove me to St Catherine’s, said a travelling trunk had been found open in a wood a short time ago, in the Niagara district, containing a few articles marked with initials. He owner was supposed to have been robbed and murdered, yet the circumstance had passed unnoticed.

The stage arrived with one passenger, tipsy, who placed his head on one side of the coach, with his feet out at the opposite one, and snored loudly. Next stage the driver was intoxicated, and I began to ruminate on the possibility of the horses participating in the common vice.

I reached Hamilton at one in the morning, and after a few hours’ sleep, took my friends out of bed in another hotel. At separating on the banks of the Welland canal they despaired of getting a conveyance to Port Robinson, and accepted the offer of a farmer to accompany him to his house on the Chippeway in the evening, and be taken in his waggon next day to Hamilton. They were much pleased with the farmer and the country which they travelled through.

On learning that a relation, who left Britain in March, was residing in the neighbourhood, a waggon was obtained, in which we rode out to breakfast. The waggons of America are light, uncovered, four-wheeled carriages, used for carrying goods or human beings, and almost the only vehicle in the country. We passed the Albion mills, situated in a romantic glen, where a rock was pointed out, over which a young woman threw herself some years before. Being deserted by a lover, her mind gave way under the shock her feelings sustained, and the spot where she sought relief from her sufferings will long remain associated with human frailty, and the perfidy of man. The family with which my relative resided were about to sit down to breakfast, and I tasted, for the first time, mash, or Indian corn meal porridge. Mr C—— had only been ten days on his farm, having judiciously purchased a moderate extent, including live stock and growing crops. He converted what had been erected for a barn into a tolerable dwelling-house; and, with sobriety and industry, will have little difficulty in bringing up his family.

A gentleman of Hamilton, to whom I had a letter of introduction, remarked, in course of conversation, he was a Whig at one time, and had lately changed and opposed the mob, as there was no end to innovation. I replied, most people do so after sharing the pickings of Tory governments, not being aware at the time that he himself had lately obtained a government situation worth L.300 a-year. A feeling of toryism pervaded most people in the Canadas I came in contact with, more especially those lately arrived from Britain. Whig and Radical in the mother country, after becoming possessed of a few acres of forest in Canada, seem to consider themselves part of the aristocracy, and speak with horror of the people and liberality. Politicians are too seldom influenced by patriotism and philanthropy; changing opinions as they do garments, according to fashion and interest.

Hamilton is situated within half a mile of Lake Ontario, and at a short distance from an elevated ridge passing round the head of the lake. The houses are chiefly of wood, forming a broad street, resembling some of the villages of the States. It is in the midst of a beautiful country, and forms one of the cleanest and most desirable places of residence in Canada.

From Hamilton we proceeded to York at 10 P. M. by the mail stage, the evening being cold with bright moonshine, and the passengers walking up and down hills in crossing several creeks to ease the horses. When objects became visible by return of day, the country seemed partially and recently cleared, and the inhabitants far from wealthy. The soil clay and sand, the former yielding good wheat and grass; the latter prevailed on approaching York, where we took up our residence at the Ontario house.

York is situated on Lake Ontario, and is the seat of government of the province from which it derives its chief importance. Steam-boats arrive and depart almost hourly, and the inhabitants amount to about 8000. The progress of American cities in newly settled districts seems to be uniform;—at first mean wooden houses, which, as wealth increases, gradually give way to better ones of the same material, and ultimately to those of brick or stone,—clay for making the former being almost everywhere to be had. The houses of the principal streets of York are passing from wood to brick, and in no place, during my tour, did I see more brick erections going forward.