Two men go together in a canoe at night; the one sits in the stern and
paddles, and the other stands with a spear over a flambeau placed in the
head of the canoe. The fish, attracted by the light, come in numbers
around the canoe, and the spearsman then takes the opportunity of
striking them. They are very expert at this business, seldom missing
their aim.
Lake Ontario, and all the rivers which fall into it, abound with
excellent salmon, and many different kinds of sea-fish, which come up
the River St. Lawrence; it also abounds with such a great variety of
fresh water fish, that it is supposed there are many sorts in it which
have never yet been named. In almost every part of the River St.
Lawrence, fish is found in the greatest abundance; and it is the opinion
of many persons, that if the fisheries were properly attended to,
particularly the salmon fishery, the country would be even more enriched
thereby than by the fur trade. Sea wolves and sea cows, amphibious
animals, weighing from one to two thousand pounds each, are said to have
been found in Lake Ontario: of the truth of this, however, there is some
doubt; but certain it is, that in sailing across that lake animals of an
immense size are frequently seen playing on the surface of the water. Of
the large fishes, the sturgeon is the one most commonly met with, and it
is not only found in Lake Ontario, but also in the other lakes that have
no immediate communication with the sea. The sturgeon caught in the
lakes is valuable for its oil, but it is not a well flavoured fish;
indeed, the sturgeon found north of James River in Virginia is in
general very indifferent, and seldom or never eaten.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA RIVER.]
Niagara River runs nearly in a due south direction, and falls into Lake
Ontario on the southern shore, about thirty miles to the east-ward of
the western extremity of the lake. It is about three hundred yards wide
at its mouth, and is by far the largest body of water flowing into Lake
Ontario. On the eastern side of the river is situated the fort, now in
the possession of the people of the States, and on the opposite or
British side the town, most generally known by the name of Niagara,
notwithstanding that it has been named Newark by the legislature. The
original name of the town was Niagara, it was afterwards called Lenox,
then Nassau, and afterwards Newark. It is to be lamented that the Indian
names, so grand and sonorous, should ever have been changed for others.
Newark, Kingston, York, are poor substitutes for the original names of
these respective places, Niagara, Cataragui, Toronto. The town of
Niagara hitherto has been, and is still the capital of the province of
Upper Canada; orders, however, had been issued, before our arrival
there, for the removal of the seat of government from thence to Toronto,
which was deemed a more eligible spot for the meeting of the legislative
bodies, as being farther removed from the frontiers of the United
States. This projected change is by no means relished by the people at
large, as Niagara is a much more convenient place of resort to most of
them than Toronto; and as the governor who proposed the measure has been
removed, it is imagined that it will not be put in execution. The
removal of the seat of government from Niagara to Toronto, according to
the plan laid down, was only to have been a preparatory step to another
alteration: a new city, to have been named London, was to have been
built on the river formerly called La Trenche, but since called the
Thames, a river running into Lake St. Clair; and here the seat of
government was ultimately to have been fixed. The spot marked out for
the site of the city possesses many local advantages. It is situated in
a healthy fertile country, on a fine navigable river, in a central part
of the province, from whence the water communication is extensive in
every direction. A few settlements have already been made on the banks
of the river, and the tide of emigration is setting in strongly towards
that quarter; at a future day, therefore, it is by no means improbable
but that this spot may be deemed an eligible one for the capital of the
country; but to remove the seat of government immediately to a place
little better than a wilderness, and so far from the populous parts of
the province, would be a measure fraught with numberless inconveniencies
to the public, and productive apparently of no essential advantages
whatsoever.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA TOWN.]
The town of Niagara contains about seventy houses, a court house, gaol,
and a building intended for the accommodation of the legislative bodies.
The houses, with a few exceptions, are built of wood; those next the
lake are rather poor, but at the upper end of the town there are several
very excellent dwellings, inhabited by the principal officers of
government. Most of the gentlemen in official stations in Upper Canada
are Englishmen of education, a circumstance which must render the
society of the capital agreeable, let it be fixed where it will. Few
places in North America can boast of a more rapid rise than the little
town of Niagara, nearly every one of its houses having been built within
the last five years: it is still advancing most rapidly in size, owing
to the increase of the back country trade along the shores of the upper
lakes, which is all carried on through the place, and also owing to the
wonderful emigrations, into the neighbourhood, of people from the
States. The motives which lead the citizens of the United States to
emigrate to the British dominions have already been explained. So sudden
and so great has the influx of people, into the town of Niagara and its
vicinity, been, that town lots, horses, provisions, and every necessary
of life have risen, within the last three years, nearly fifty per cent.
in value.
[Sidenote: SICKNESS.]
The banks of the River Niagara are steep and lofty, and on the top, at
each side of the river, are extensive plains. The town stands on the
summit of the western bank, about fifty yards from the water’s edge. It
commands a fine view of the lake and distant shores, and its situation
is in every respect pleasing to the eye. From its standing on a spot of
ground so much elevated above the level of the water, one would imagine
that it must also be a remarkably healthy place, but it is, in fact,
lamentably the reverse. On arriving at the town, we were obliged to call
at no less than four different taverns, before we could procure
accommodations, the people at the first places we stopped at being so
severely afflicted with the ague, that they could not receive us; and on
enquiring, it appeared that there was not a single house in the whole
town but where one or more of the inhabitants were labouring under this
perplexing disorder; in some of the houses entire families were laid up,
and at the fort on the opposite side of the river, the whole of the new
garrison, except a corporal and nine men, was disqualified for doing
duty. Each individual of our party could not but entertain very serious
apprehensions for his own health, on arriving at a place where sickness
was so general, but we were assured that the danger of catching the
disorder was now over; that all those who were ill at present, had been
confined many weeks before; and that for a fortnight past not a single
person had been attacked, who had not been ill in the preceding part of
the season. As a precaution, however, each one of the party took
fasting, in the morning, a glass of brandy, in which was infused a
teaspoonfull of Peruvian bark. This mixture is deemed, in the country,
one of the most certain preventatives against the disorder, and few that
take it, in time, regularly, and avoid the evening dews, suffer from it.
Not only the town of Niagara and its vicinity are unhealthy places, but
almost every part of Upper Canada, and of the territory of the States
bordering upon the lakes, is likewise unhealthy. The sickly season
commences about the middle of July, and terminates about the first week
of September, as soon as the nights become cold. Intermittent fevers are
the most common disorders; but in some parts of the country the
inhabitants suffer from continual fevers, of which there are different
kinds, peculiar to certain districts. In the country, for instance,
bordering upon the Genesee River, which falls into Lake Ontario on the
southern side, a fever is common amongst the inhabitants of a malignant
nature, vulgarly called the Genesee fever, of which many die annually:
and in that bordering upon the Miami River, which falls into Lake Erie,
within the north-western territory of the United States, a fever of a
different kind, again, is common. It does not appear that the exact
nature of these different fevers has ever been accurately ascertained.
In the back parts of North America, in general, medical men are rarely
to be met with, and indeed if they were, the settlements are so far
removed from each other, that they could be of little service.
[Sidenote: EMIGRATIONS.]
It is very remarkable, that notwithstanding that medical assistance is
so rarely to be had in case of sickness in the back country, yet the
Americans, when they are about to change their place of abode, seldom or
ever consider whether the part of the country to which they are going is
healthy or otherwise, at least they are scarcely ever influenced in
their choice of a place of residence either by its healthiness or
unhealthiness. If the lands in one part of the country are superior to
those in another in fertility; if they are in the neighbourhood of a
navigable river, or situated conveniently to a good market; if they are
cheap, and rising in value, thither the American will gladly emigrate,
let the climate be ever so unfriendly to the human system. Not a year
passes over, but what numbers of people leave the beautiful and healthy
banks of the Susquehannah River for the Genesee country, where nine out
of every ten of the inhabitants are regularly seized, during the autumn,
with malignant fevers; but the lands bordering upon the Susquehannah are
in general poor, whereas those in the Genesee country are in many places
so rich, that until reduced by successive crops of Indian corn, wheat,
to use the common phrase, “will run wholly to straw:” where it has been
sown in the first instance, the stalks have frequently been found
fourteen or fifteen feet in length, two thirds of them lying on the
ground.
On the margin of Niagara River, about three quarters of a mile from the
town, stands a building called Navy Hall, erected for the accommodation
of the naval officers on the lake during the winter season, when their
vessels are laid up. Opposite to it there is a spacious wharf to protect
the vessels from the ice during the winter, and also to facilitate the
landing of merchandize when the navigation is open. All cargoes brought
up the lake, that are destined for Niagara, are landed here. Adjoining
the wharf are very extensive stores belonging to the crown, and also to
private persons. Navy Hall is now occupied by the troops; the fort on
the opposite side of the river, where they were formerly stationed,
having been delivered up pursuant to the late treaty between his Majesty
and the United States. The troops, however, are only to remain at the
hall until a blockhouse is erected on the top of the banks for their
accommodation; this building is in a state of forwardness, and the
engineer hopes to have it finished in a few months.
[Sidenote: NIAGARA FORT.]
[Sidenote: FEDERAL ARMY.]
The fort of Niagara stands immediately at the mouth of the river, on a
point of land, one side of which is washed by the river and the other by
the lake. Towards the water it is stockaded; and behind the stockade, on
the river side, a large mound of earth rises up, at the top of which are
embrasures for guns; on the land side it is secured by several batteries
and redoubts, and by parallel lines of fascines. At the gates, and in
various different parts, there are strong blockhouses; and facing the
lake, within the stockade, stands a large fortified stone house. The
fort and outworks occupy about five acres of ground; and a garrison of
five hundred men, and at least from thirty to forty pieces of ordnance,
would be necessary to defend it properly. The federal garrison, however,
consists only of fifty men; and the whole of the cannon in the place
amounts merely to four small field pieces, planted at the four corners
of the fort. This fort was founded by the French, and constituted one
link of that extensive chain of posts which they established along the
lakes and the western waters. It was begun by the building of the stone
house, after a solemn promise had been obtained from the Indians that
the artificers should not be interrupted whilst they were going on with
the work. The Indians readily made this promise, as, according to their
notion, it would have been inhospitable and unfriendly in the extreme
not to have permitted a few traders to build a house within their
territory to protect them against the inclemency of the seasons: but
they were greatly astonished when one so totally different from any that
they had ever seen before, and from any that they had an idea of, was
completed; they began to suspect that the strangers had plans in
meditation unfavourable to their interests, and they wished to
dispossess them of their new mansion, but it was too late. In the hall
of the house a well had been sunk to keep it supplied with water; the
house was plentifully stored with provisions in case of a siege; and the
doors being once closed, the tenants remained perfectly indifferent
about every hostile attack the Indians could make against it.
Fortifications to strengthen the house were gradually erected; and by
the year 1759 the place was so strong as to resist, for some time, the
forces under the command of Sir William Johnston. Great additions were
made to the works after the fort fell into the hands of the British. The
stone house is a very spacious building, and is now, as it was formerly,
appropriated for the accommodation of the principal officers of the
garrison. In the rear of the house is a large apartment, commanding a
magnificent view of the lake and of the distant hills at Toronto, which
formerly was the officers mess room, and a pattern of neatness. The
officers of the federal garrison, however, consider it more convenient
to mess in one of the kitchens, and this beautiful room has been
suffered to go to ruin; indeed every part of the fort now exhibits a
picture of slovenliness and neglect; and the appearance of the soldiers
is equally devoid of neatness with that of their quarters. Though it was
on Sunday morning that we visited the fort, on which day it is usual
even for the men of the garrisons in the States to appear better dressed
than on other days, yet the greater part of the men were as dirty as if
they had been at work in the trenches for a week without intermission:
their grisly beards demonstrated that a razor had not approached their
chins for many days; their hair, to appearance, had not been combed for
the same length of time; their linen was filthy, their guns rusty, and
their clothes ragged. That the clothes and accoutrements of the men
should not be better is not to be wondered at, considering how very
badly the western army of the States is appointed in every respect; but
it is strange that the officers should not attend more than they do to
the cleanliness of their men. Their garrisons on the frontiers have
uniformly suffered more from sickness than those of the British; and it
is to be attributed, I should imagine, in a great measure to their
filthiness; for the men are as stout and hardy, apparently, as any in
the world. The western army of the States has been most shamefully
appointed from the very outset. I heard General Wayne, then the
commander in chief, declare at Philadelphia, that a short time after
they had begun their march, more than one third of his men were attacked
in the woods, at the same period, with a dysentery; that the surgeons
had not even been furnished with a medicine chest; and that nothing
could have saved the greater part of the troops from death, had not one
of the young surgeons fortunately discovered, after many different
things had been tried in vain, that the bark of the root of a particular
sort of yellow poplar tree was a powerful antidote to the disorder. Many
times also, he said, his army had been on the point of suffering from
famine in their own country, owing to the carelessness of their
commissaries. So badly indeed had the army been supplied, even latterly,
with provisions, that when notice was sent to the federal general by the
British officers, that they had received orders to deliver up their
respective posts pursuant to the treaty, and that they were prepared to
do so whenever he was ready to take possession of them, an answer was
returned, that unless the British officers could supply his army with a
considerable quantity of provisions on arriving at the lakes, he could
not attempt to march for many weeks. The federal army was generously
supplied with fifty barrels of pork, as much as the British could
possibly spare; notwithstanding which, it did not make its appearance
till a considerable time after the day appointed for the delivery of the
posts. The federal army is composed almost wholly of Irishmen and
Germans, that were brought over as redemptioners, and enlisted as soon
as they landed, before they had an opportunity of learning what great
wages were given to labourers in the States. The natives of the country
are too fond of making money to rest satisfied with the pay of a common
soldier.
The American prints, until the late treaty of amity was ratified, teemed
with the most gross abuse of the British government, for retaining
possession of Niagara Fort, and the other military posts on the lakes,
after the independence of the States had been acknowledged, and peace
concluded. It was never taken into consideration, that if the British
government had thought proper to have withdrawn its troops from the
posts at once, immediately after the definitive treaty was signed, the
works would in all probability have been destroyed by the Indians,
within whose territories they were situated, long before the people of
the States could have taken possession of them; for no part of their
army was within hundreds of miles of the posts, and the country through
which they must have past in getting to them was a mere wilderness; but
if the army had gained the posts, the states were in no condition,
immediately after the war, to have kept in them such large bodies of the
military as would have been absolutely necessary for their defence
whilst at enmity with the Indians, and it is by no means improbable, but
that the posts might have been soon abandoned. The retention of them,
therefore, to the present day, was, in fact, a circumstance highly
beneficial to the interests of the States, notwithstanding that such an
outcry was raised against the British on that account, inasmuch as the
Americans now find themselves possessed of extensive fortifications on
the frontiers, in perfect repair, without having been at the expence of
building them, or maintaining troops in them for the space of ten years,
during which period no equivalent advantages could have been derived
from their possession. It is not to be supposed, however, that the
British government meant to confer a favour on her late colonies by
retaining the posts; it was well known that the people of the new states
would be eager, sooner or later, to get possession or forts situated
within their boundary line, and occupied by strangers; and as there were
particular parts of the definitive treaty which some of the states did
not seem very ready to comply with, the posts were detained as a
security for its due ratification on the part of the States. In the late
treaty of amity and commerce, these differences were finally
accommodated to the satisfaction of Great Britain, and the posts were
consequently delivered up. On the surrender of them very handsome
compliments were paid, in the public papers throughout the States, to
the British officers, for the polite and friendly manner in which they
gave them up. The gardens of the officers were all left in full bearing,
and high preservation; and all the little conveniences were spared,
which could contribute to the comforts of the federal troops.
[Sidenote: REMARKS]
The generality of the people of the States were big with the idea, that
the possession of these places would be attended with the most important
and immediate advantages; and in particular they were fully persuaded,
that they would thereby at once become masters of the trade to the
lakes, and of three-fourths at least of the fur trade, which, they said,
had hitherto been so unjustly monopolized by the British merchants, to
their great prejudice. They have now got possession of them, and
perceive the futility of all these notions.
The posts surrendered are four in number; namely, Fort Oswego, at the
mouth of Oswego River, which falls into Lake Ontario, on the south side;
Fort Niagara, at the mouth of Niagara River; Fort Detroit, on the
western bank of Detroit River; and Fort Michillimachinack, at the
straits of the same name, between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. From
Oswego, the first of these, we derived no benefit whatever. The
neighbouring country, for miles round, was a mere forest; it was
inhabited by but few Indians, and these few carried their furs to
Cataragui or Kingston, where they got a better price for them than at
Oswego, as there were many traders there, and of course some competition
amongst them; at the same time, the river, at the mouth of which this
fort stands, was always open to the people of the States, and along it a
small trade was carried on by them between New York and Lake Ontario,
which was in no wise ever interrupted by the troops at the fort. By the
surrender of this place, therefore, they have gained nothing but what
they enjoyed before and the British government is saved the expence of
keeping up a useless garrison of fifty men.
[Sidenote: SURRENDERED FORTS.]
The quantity of furs collected at Niagara is considerable, and the
neighbourhood being populous, it is a place of no small trade; but the
town, in which this trade is carried on, being on the British side of
the line, the few merchants that lived within the limits of the fort
immediately crossed over to the other side, as soon as it was rumoured
that the fort was to be given up. By the possession of a solitary fort,
therefore, the people of the States have not gained the smallest portion
of this part of the lake trade; nor is it probable that any of them will
find it their interest to settle as merchants near the fort; for the
British merchants, on the opposite side, as has already been shewn, can
afford to sell their goods, brought up the St. Lawrence, on much lower
terms than what goods brought from New York can be sold at; and as for
the collecting of furs, it is not to be imagined that the Indians, who
bear such a rooted hatred to the people of the States, who are attached
to the British, and who are not a people ready to forsake their old
friends, will carry their furs over to their enemies, and give up their
connexions with the men with whom they have been in the habit of
dealing, and who can afford to pay them so much better than the traders
on the opposite side of the water.