These enterprising Yankees have seized upon another profitable
speculation here: there is a fish found in great quantities in the upper
part of Lake Superior, called the skevat[38], so exceedingly rich,
luscious, and oily, when fresh, as to be quite uneatable. A gentleman
here told me that he had tried it, and though not very squeamish at any
time, and then very hungry, he could not get beyond the first two or
three mouthfuls; but it has been lately discovered that this fish makes
a most luxurious pickle. It is very excellent, but so rich even in this
state, that, like the tunny _marinee_, it is necessary either to taste
abstemiously, or die heroically of indigestion. This fish is becoming a
fashionable luxury, and in one of the stores here I saw three hundred
barrels ready for embarkation. The Americans have several schooners on
the lakes employed in these fisheries: we have not one. They have
besides planned a ship canal through the portage here, which will open a
communication for large vessels between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, as
our Welland Canal has united Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. The ground has
already been surveyed for this purpose. When this canal is completed, a
vessel may load in the Thames, and discharge her burthen at the upper
end of Lake Superior. I hope you have a map before you, that you may
take in at a glance this wonderful extent of inland navigation. Ought a
country possessing it, and all the means of life beside, to remain poor,
oppressed, uncultivated, unknown?