Previous to the settlement of the country along the banks of the Niagara river, great numbers of wild beasts, birds, and fishes, might be seen, dashed to pieces, at the bottom of the Falls; and innumerable birds of prey were continually hovering over their putrid carcases. But since this part of the country has been thickly settled, scarcely any thing is to be found in the bed of the river below the Falls, except fishes, and a few water-fowl, which, on alighting in the rapids, are unable to take wing again, and are soon hurried down the dreadful abyss.

It is generally supposed, that the Falls were once as far down as Queenstown, and the supposition seems to me very plausible. The appearance of the banks on each side of the river affords very strong presumptive evidence in favour of this notion; and the fact of the constant recession of the Falls, observed by the people who reside in their vicinity, is no less confirmatory. That seven miles of lime-stone strata of such great depth should be worn away by nothing but water, will appear too preposterous for belief, by those who have never stooped to the drudgery of calculation; but, if only the fiftieth part of a barley-corn was worn away in every hour since the creation, supposing the Falls to have then been at Queenstown, or a little above it, they would now be within a few perches of the place where they really are. These calculations receive an air of great plausibility, at least, from the rugged features of the banks

between the Falls and Queenstown, which afford numerous and strong indications of the convulsions to which nature has been subjected.

Between the Falls and Fort Erie there is only one small village, containing about a dozen houses, with several military stores, and two or three taverns. It is situated on the Western bank of the river Welland; and near it is a small military fort, called FORT CHIPPAWA.

FLAKE ERIE is situated on elevated ground, on

the bank of the Lake from which it derives its name. During the late war, this Fort was much improved, and connected, by a chain of tred works, extending about 1,100 yards to Snake Hill, on which there is a strong Battery.

LAKE ERIE is situated between 41 and 43 deg. of North latitude, and between 79 and 82 of West longitude. It is 231 miles long, and 63 and a half wide. Its circumference is 658 miles, and its greatest depth 40 fathoms. The Northern banks aer little diversified, and exhibit an almost perfect sameness from one extremity to the other. The harbours are few and very unsafe.

LONG POINT, or the North Foreland, is a narrow strip of land projecting Eastward, from the township of Walsingham, little less than 20 miles, and not exceeding 180 yards in breadth.

At TURKEY POINT, projecting from the mainland within the Foreland, a spot has been surveyed and laid out for a Dock Yard. From this spot to Amersburgh, nothing intervenes to break the uni

formity of the coast; if we except the Rondeau, which is a small Lake of about 9 miles long, and 3 broad, connected with Lake Erie by a narrow passage or Strait.

AMERSBURGH is situated about 3 miles up the Eastern bank of the Detroit River, and contains nearly 100 houses. During the late war, it was a frontier post and naval depôt; but the military works, dock-yard, and stores, were destroyed by the English in 1813, when they were compelled to evacuate it by an overwhelming American force.

Fourteen miles beyond Amersburgh, pursuing the course of the river, is the town of SANDWICH, containing about 60 houses, with a Church, Gaol, and Court House. It is situate in a very fine part of the country, immediately opposite the United States' town of Detroit.

Be

From Sandwich to LAKE ST. CLAIR, the country is said to be inferior to none in the Province. yond this, there is no cultivated land, except a few small patches around the different stations of the North West Company, in the interior. Lake St. Clair forms nearly a circle, the diameter of which is 30 miles.

MICHIGAN, situated between 42 and 45 degrees of North latitude, and between 85 and 87 of West longitude, is 262 miles long, 55 broad, and 731 in circumference.

LAKE HURON, between 43 and 47 deg. North lat., and between 80 and 85 deg. West long., is 218

miles long, and 100 miles broad, being 812 miles in circumference.

LAKE SUPERIOR, situated between 46 and 48 degrees of North latitude, and between 85 and 93 of West longitude, is the astonishing length of 381 miles by 161; the circumference of which is 1152 miles.

The LAKE OF THE WOODS is very small. Its North West angle is no less than 1826 miles from Quebec.

LETTER VIII.

DESCRIPTION OF THE CANADAS MILITIA OF THE UPPER PRO VINCE GENERAL ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY-PUBLIC ROADS MODE OF SETTLING THE LOWER PROVINCE -FEW MOUNTAINS, AND NUMEROUS RIVERS, IN UPPER CANADA THE MOST IMPROVED DISTRICTS-GREAT VARIETY OF SOIL MODE OF CUL TURE AFTER FIRST CLEARANCE, AND OF ASCERTAINING THE QUALITY OF LAND.

UPPER CANADA is situated between 42 and 45 degrees of North latitude, and between 73 and 95 degrees of West longitude. It is bounded, on the East, by Lower Canada; on the North East, by the Grand or Ottawais river, which, in that direction, separates it from the Lower Province; on the North, by the territory of the Hudson's Bay Company; on the South and South East, by the United States of America, or rather, by an imaginary line commencing at the village of St. Regis, about 55 miles from Montreal, on the parallel of the 45th degree of North Latitude, from which it passes up the middle of the St. Lawrence, Lake Ontario, the Niagara River, Lake Erie; and, continuing thence, into Lakes Huron and Superior, the Long Lake and along the middle of the chain of Lakes and other water-communication, up to the North