January 26.
The town of Niagara presents the same torpid appearance which seems to
prevail everywhere at this season; it is situated at the mouth of the
river Niagara, and is a place of much business and resort when the
navigation is open. The lake does not freeze here, owing to the depth of
its majestic waters; neither does the river, from the velocity of its
current; yet both are blocked up by the huge fragments of ice which are
brought down from Lake Erie, and which, uniting and accumulating at the
mouth of the river, form a field of ice extending far into the lake. How
beautiful it looked to-day, broken into vast longitudinal flakes of
alternate white and azure, and sparkling in the sunshine!
The land all round Niagara is particularly fine and fertile: it has been
longer cleared and cultivated than in other parts of the province, and
the country, they say, is most beautiful in summer. The opposite shore,
about a quarter of a mile off, is the State of New York. The Americans
have a fort on their side, and we also have a fort on ours. What the
amount of _their_ garrison may be I know not, but our force consists of
three privates and a corporal, with adequate arms and ammunition, i. e.
rusty firelocks and damaged guns. The fortress itself I mistook for a
dilapidated brewery. This is charming--it _looks_ like peace and
security, at all events.
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