heaven, flourished, as soon as they ceased to be so, fell.

I would fain persuade myself, that there is sufficient salt in this country to preserve it from such a catastrophe, but I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that it is fearfully overlaid with infidelity on the one hand, and with a vast deal of imposture and indifference on the other.

But hark! the horn, not of Caspar, but of the Erie canal boat.

Soon after ten, I took my departure in it. In size and shape it resembles those that ply on the old river navigation, between Manchester and Runcorn.

This canal is 40 feet wide at the top, 28 at the bottom, and four deep. It is the property of the State of New York, having been executed by them, or rather by Irishmen in their employ, in about eight years' time, at an expense of £2,000,000 sterling. There is a great traffic upon it, until "old father frost" lays his heavy hands upon it, in boats of the burthen of between 35 and 45 tons, of which we frequently saw half a dozen in sight at once: and it is abundantly supplied with water from Lake Erie, and other such sources. In fact, the present is the time, as the

Americans appear to be aware, for cutting canals, and such sort of communications, for although labour is higher than it probably will be fifty years hence, yet the price of land is nothing: the law here is, if the landowners require it, the canal commissioners will join them in naming an arbitrator, to determine whether the canal has improved or injured the property; if it has improved it, they have to pay something for the improvement, besides losing their land; but I understand hardly any transactions of the kind have been entered into.

At night the passengers, amounting to twenty-five, were accommodated with berths, by placing mattresses upon the benches, upon each side the boat, which benches again, by means of hinges and supports, were rendered double their daily width; above these again, hammocks are suspended by staples, driven into the cabin roof on purpose, and which during the day time are concealed in the cavities of the benches. As necessity is the mother of invention, nothing can exceed the ingenuity of these sleeping accommodations. My perch was small enough in all conscience (smaller than any I ever crept into before) but I slept soundly and long in it.

26тн ОСТOBER.

On rising this morning at six, I found the ground covered with snow.

Our boat is drawn by three horses, the driver riding upon the last, and holding the other two with reins, a species of tandem, I never saw before. Average speed 96 miles in the twenty-four hours; not quite four miles an hour.

At ten, we arrived at Rochester, where there is an aqueduct, 802 feet in length, supported by eleven arches, carrying the canal over the Genessee river : about 700 yards north of the town, that river precipitates itself down a cataract 90 feet deep, which furnishes an invaluable water privilege, used to turn a multitude of cotton and other mills. Rochester contains upwards of 10,000 inhabitants, appearing to be a bustling, thriving place, ten years ago it was a wilderness; the canal and the cataract are the magicians that have wrought these wonderful changes: besides, it is upon the borders of the Genessee country, where the finest wheat in the world is grown.

As the boat stayed an hour here to pick up passengers, I took the opportunity to perambulate the

town; in the course of which, I overtook a man driving a team of huge oxen, to quicken whose paces he kept singing out, "Gee up my puppies.!" Matthews, in his satirical mode of dealing with journalists, would have taken out his tablets, and entered thus:"N. B.-In America all oxen are called puppies." No doubt it is too much the custom everywhere, and especially in this country, to take the exception for the rule. On my return to the boat, I mentioned the circumstance to the company, who laughed heartily, but said it was quite original.

In one place the canal ran close to, and parallel with a road, where we beheld an unlucky wight, with his dearborn, or carriage of the country, drawn by a couple of horses, stuck fast and deep in some most tenacious mud. This made us quite satisfied with the slow but velvet pace of our accommodation, as contrasted with the Slough of Despond in which our pilgrim had made such slight progress.

At Little Falls, there is another aqueduct of three arches, and 214 feet in length, carrying the canal over the Mohawk river, equally celebrated in Indian warfare and in song. It is constructed of hewn limestone, and is inferior only to that at Rochester; the

centre arch is 70 feet wide, and spans the space the river occupies, with a deep and rapid current; the outside arches are 50 feet span, resting upon abutments and pieces of solid limestone, surmounted upon each side by coping stones, and iron railing. Great taste and judgement have been displayed in the construction of this work; and connected with the romantic scenery of the "Pass of the Mohawk," it is unequalled in interest by any other point upon the canal.

There are persons now resident upon the banks of the Mohawk, who purchased their lands of that powerful nation; who, as recently as the treaty of peace of 1783, were numerous in these parts, as the Indian names of towns and villages adjacent, help to testify. At present, with the exception of 2000 Tuscaroras, who are tolerated near Niagara, and a few Oneidas, near Camistota, the Indians are now altogether extinct. They faded away, imperceptibly, before the face of the white man, brandy and all sorts of bitters having had a sufficient share in their civilization and catastrophe.

We performed 332 miles in four days and three nights; in three boats, which, though all of the same size, yet minute differences in the internal accommo