rence, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Lake St. Clair, and extend back for a distance, varying from 40 to 50 miles. The soil throughout is scarcely excelled by any portion of North America. In the rear of the townships are large tracts of land stretching far to the north, covered with immense forests, and little known except to the Indians; but it has been ascertained that there are many large tracts of rich soil. The climate is salubrious. The winters are shorter and milder than in Lower Canada. The spring opens usually from six weeks to two months earlier than at Quebec. The population of Upper Canada has increased with great rapidity. In 1783, it did not exceed 10,000 souls. In 1814, it was 95,000; and in 1830, 234,865.

For the defence of the Canadas, a regular military establishment is maintained by the British government, amounting in common to between 20,000 and 30,000 men. This force is stationed at various points along the great, line of the St. Lawrence.

There are two large canals in Upper Canada; Welland Canal, connecting lakes Erie and Ontario, 41 miles long; and Rideau Canal, connecting lake Ontario with the river Utawas, 160 miles long.

The Welland Canal commences near the mouth of Grand river on Lake Erie, 40 miles north-west of Buffalo. It connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario by canal navigation, overcoming all the descent of Niagara Falls and Niagara river between the two lakes. It admits vessels of 125 tons, being wider and deeper than any other canal in the country, except the Delaware and Chesapeake. The elevation overcome by the locks is 320 feet. The canal required prodigious excavations, in some places through solid stone. The "Ravine Locks" are said to be the most striking canal spectacle to be seen in America. The extremes of heat and cold are astonishing; Fahrenheit's therthe Canadas mometer in the months of July and August, rising to 100°, and yet in general. in winter the mercury generally freezes. Changes of weather, however, are less frequent, and the seasons more regular than in the United States. Snow not unfrequently begins to fall in October, and increases in November; in December the clouds are generally dissolved, and the sky assumes a bright hue, continuing for weeks without a single cloud.

Climate of

Here, however, winter is the season for amusement, and the sledges drawn by one or two horses, afford a speedy and pleasant conveyance in travelling; but on going abroad, all parts of the body, except the eyes, must be thickly covered with furs.

In May the thaw comes on suddenly, and in its progress the ice on the river St. Lawrence bursts with the noise of cannon, and passes towards the ocean with tremendous rapidity and violence. The progress of vegetation is astonishing. Spring has scarcely appeared before it is succeeded by summer. In a few days the trees regain their foliage, and the fields are clothed with the richest verdure. September, generally, is one of the most agreeable months. The Canadian horses are mostly small and heavy; but very brisk on the road, travelling at the rate of 8 or 9 miles an hour. The calash, a sort of one horse chaise, capable of holding two persons and a driver, is the carriage most generally in use.

The Canadians have a species of large dogs which are used in drawing burdens. They are yoked into little carts: in this way people frequently go to market. Sometimes they perform long journeys in the winter season, on the snow, by half a dozen or more of these animals yoked into a cariole or sledge.

The river St. Lawrence is the only channel, by which the commodities of these two provinces have hitherto found their way to the ocean. The principal exports consist of oak and pine timber, deals, masts, and bowsprits, spars of all denominations, staves, pot and pearl ashes, peltry, wheat, flour, biscuit, Indian corn, pulse, salt provisions, fish, and other miscellaneous articles, which employ

generally about 150,000 tons of shipping. In return for these are imported, wines, rum, sugar, molasses, coffee, tobacco, salt, coals, and manufactured produce from Great Britain.

The government of Upper Canada is administered by a lieutenant-governor, (who is almost always a military officer,) a legislative council, an executive council, and a house of assembly. The legislative council consists of not less than 7 members, of which the chief justice of the province is president, and wherein the bishop of Quebec has a seat; the members are appointed by mandamus from the king, and hold their seats, under certain restrictions, for life. The executive council is composed of 6 members; the chief justice is president, and the bishop of Quebec likewise has a seat in it. The house of assembly is composed of 25 members, who are returned from the 23 counties; the duration of the assembly is limited to 4 years. The civil and criminal law is administered by a chief justice and two puisne judges. There is a court of king's bench, common pleas, and a court of appeal. The expense of the civil list is defrayed by Great Britain.

The Falls of Niagara are esteemed the grandest object of the kind in the world. Though there are other falls which have a greater perpendicular descent, yet there is none in the known world where so great a mass of water is precipitated from so great a height.

The distance of the falls above Lake Ontario is 14 miles, and below Lake Erie 23 miles on the New York side, and 21 on the Canada side. At the distance of a mile and three-quarters above the falls, the river begins to descend with a rapid and powerful current. At the falls, it turns with a right angle to the north-east, and is suddenly contracted in width, from three miles to threefourths of a mile. Below the cataract, the river is only half a mile wide, but its depth is said to exceed 300 feet. The descent within 10 miles is about 300 feet, and from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario 334 feet. The agitation and rapid current continue about 8 miles below the cataract, nearly to Queenstown, and the river does not become sufficiently calm to admit of navigation till it reaches that place. Below the falls, it is inclosed in perpendicular banks 300 feet high. The best single view of the cataract is that from Table Rock, on the Canada side; the best view of the rapids is from Goat Island, which is connected with the eastern shore by a bridge.

The precipice over which the river descends, is formed by the brow of a vast bed of lime. The perpendicular descent, according to the measurement of Major Prescot, is 151 feet. The descent is perpendicular, except that rocks are hollowed underneath the surface, particularly on the western side. The cataract is divided into two parts by Goat, or Iris Island, which occupies onefifth or one-sixth of the whole breadth. The principal channel is on the western side, and is called the Horse-shoe Fall, from its shape. The eastern chan

nel is divided by another small island. The descent on the eastern side is stated at 162 feet, being greater than on the western, but the water is more hollow. The quantity of water discharged in an hour, is computed at about 100,000,000 tons.

The noise of the falls resembles the hoarse roar of the ocean; being much graver, or less shrill than that of smaller cataracts. It is not unfrequently heard at York, 50 miles distant. When two persons stand very near each other, they can mutually hear their ordinary conversation; when removed to a small distance, they are obliged to halloo, and when removed a little farther, they cannot be heard at all. Every sound is drowned in the tempest of noise made by the water; and all else in the regions of nature appears to be dumb. The noise is a vast thunder, filling the heavens, shaking the earth, and leaving the mind, although perfectly conscious of safety and affected with a sense of grandeur only, lost and astonished, swelling with emotions which engross all its faculties, and mock the power of utterance.

A large majestic cloud of vapor rises without intermission from the whole breadth of the river below; and ascending with a slow solemn progress, partly spreads itself down the stream by an arching and wonderfully magnificen, motion; and partly mounts to heaven, blown into every wild fantastical form; when separated into smaller clouds, it successively floats away through the atmosphere. This cloud is said to be visible at the distance of 60 or 70 miles. "In the mist produced by all cataracts," observes Dr. Dwight, from whom this account is chiefly extracted, " rainbows are ordinarily seen in proper positions when the sun shines; always, indeed, unless when the vapor is too rare. Twice, while we were here, the sun broke through the clouds, and lighted up in a moment the most lucid rainbow that I ever beheld. In each instance the phenomenon continued a long time, and left us in perfect leisure to enjoy its splendors. It commenced near the precipice, and extended, so far as I was able to judge, at least a mile down the river. In one respect, both these rainbows differed widely from all others which I had seen. The red, orange, and yellow were so vivid, as to excite in our whole company strong emotions of surprise and pleasure, while the green, blue, indigo, and violet, were certainly not more brilliant than those which are usually seen on the bosom of a shower. "The emotions excited by a view of this stupendous scene, are unutterable. When the spectator casts his eye over the long ranges of ragged cliffs, which form the shores of this great river below the cataract; cliffs 150 feet in height, bordering it with lonely gloom and grandeur, and shrouded everywhere by shaggy forests; when he surveys the precipice above, stretching with so great an amplitude, rising to a great height, and presenting at a single view its awful brow, with an impression not a little enhanced by the division which the island forms between the two great branches of the river; when he contemplates the enormous mass of water pouring from this astonishing height in sheets so vast, and with a force so amazing; when, turning his eye to the mighty mass, and listening to the majestic sound which fills the heavens, his mind is overwhelmed by thoughts too great, and by impressions too powerful, to permit the current of the intellect to flow with serenity. The disturbance of his mind resembles that of the waters beneath him. His bosom swells with emotions never before felt; his thoughts labor in a manner never before known. The pleasure is exquisite, but violent. The conceptions are clear and strong, but rapid and tumultuous. The struggle within is discovered by the fixedness of his positiont the solemnity of his aspect, and the intense gaze of his eye. When he moves, his motions appear uncontrived. When he is spoken to, he is silent; or if he speaks, his answers are short, wandering from the subject, and indicating that absence of mind which is the result of laboring contemplation."

NEW BRITAIN, NOVA SCOTIA, AND NEW BRUNSWICK. 167

NEW BRUNSWICK.

BOUNDED N. by Lower Canada; E. by the Gulf of St. Lawrence: S. by the Bay of Fundy and Nova Scotia; and W. by the United States.

The principal rivers are the St. Johns, Miramichi and Ristigouche. The lands on the rivers, especially on the St. John, are very fertile, and the settlements lie principally on this river and on the Miramichi. Coal of a superior quality is found on the Grand Lake near St. John's river. The tract of country so prolific in gypsum, commences in this province at Martin's head on the bay of Fundy, and extends east into Nova Scotia. The chief articles of export are lumber, codfish, salmon, and herring. The principal ports are St. John, St. Andrew, Miramichi, and the West Isles. The province is divided into 8 counties. Fredericton is the capital. St. John is the largest town. Population 119,457.

New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, in most particulars, are very similar. The face of the country is neither mountainous, nor quite level. There are several rivers, among which those of Annapolis and St. Johns are the most considerable. The soil is, in general, thin and barren, particularly on the coasts. In some parts there are very extensive tracts of marsh, which are rich and productive. Both the soil and the climate are unfavorable to the cultivation of grain, and the inhabitants do not raise provision sufficient for their own consumption. The fisheries, however, compensate in some measure for the sterility of the soil. The coast abounds with cod, salmon, mackerel, haddock, and herring. Their chief exports are fish and lumber. Coal is found in Nova Scotia; and plaster-of-Paris, particularly at Windsor, from whence large quantities are imported into the United States.

NOVA SCOTIA.

NOVA SCOTIA is a large peninsula, about 300 miles long, and is separated from New Brunswick, in part, by the Bay of Fundy.

The Bay of Fundy is remarkable for its tides, which rise to the height of 30, and sometimes, in the narrowest part, even to 60 feet. The rise is so rapid that cattle feeding on the shore are often overtaken and drowned.

The chief towns are Halifax and Annapolis. Population 142,000.

It extends from Cape Sable, its most southern point, in lat. 43° 23′ to 49° 30' N., and from 60° 15' to 67° W. long.

NEW BRITAIN.

THE Country lying round Hudson's bay, or the country of the Esquimaux, comprehending Labrador, New North and South Wales, has obtained the general name of New Britain, and is attached to the government of Lower Canada.

That part called Labrador is full of frightful mountains, many of which are of a stupendous height. The valleys present numerous lakes, and produce only a few stunted trees. In the parallel of 60° north latitude, all vegetation ceases. Such is the intenseness of the cold in the winter, that brandy and even quicksilver freezes into a solid mass; rocks often burst with a tremendous noise, equal to that of the heaviest artillery. At Nain, Okkak, and Hopedale, the Moravian missionaries have settlements.

In New North and South Wales the face of the country has not quite the same aspect of unconquerable sterility as that of Labrador, and the climate, although in the same parallel of latitude, is a little less rigorous. But it is only

the coasts of these immense regions that are known, the interior having never yet been explored. The natives are called Esquimaux. Some factories and forts for the purpose of carrying on the fur trade with the Indians, are established by the Hudson's Bay and North-west companies.

The trade of the former is confined to the neighborhood of Hudson's bay; that of the latter extends from lake Winnipeg to the Rocky mountains and the Frozen Ocean. The North-west company is composed of Montreal merchants. The usual mode of travelling in this country is in birch bark canoes. With these the inhabitants pass up and down the rivers and lakes, and when they meet with a rapid, or wish to pass from one river to another, they get out of the canoe and carry it on their shoulders. In this way, the men engaged in the fur trade travel thousands of miles, and carry all their goods.

The principal rivers are the Mackenzie, Nelson, Saskashawan, Severn, and Albany.

The largest lakes are Winnepeg, Athapeskow, Slave Lake, and Great Bear Lake.

GREENLAND, a country, bounded E. by the Atlantic, and separated from Labrador on the south-west by Davis' straits. It is not ascertained whether it is a peninsula or an island, although the recent discoveries in the Polar regions