sometimes most vehement. It is only at its west end that it is adorned by
islands. The Morasses, earthy scaurs, or gentle uplands of its coasts,
are only remarkable for their large walnut and buttonwood trees, which,
in a dense umbrageous belt, shut out all view of the interior from the
traveller on the lake, except at the partial clearances. Neither is the
vicinity of this lake agreeable as a residence, in the western half, at
least in the summer. The heat then, although not thermometrically extreme,
is peculiarly oppressive, relaxing, and long continued. The steaming
swamps, which are almost universal, are full of putrifying substances,
occasioning the bilious remittents there so prevalent. The water in
common use is heated, and ill-tasted. Moskitoes, sand, and black flies
abound, and, extending their attacks to the domestic animals, aided by a
fly nearly an inch long, almost drive them distracted. There are
circumstances also, in social life, which render this region a
disagreeable residence, but which are gradually disappearing. Its extreme
fertility, the moderate sum of its annual heat, and its facilities of
communication with other countries, will, in progress of time, render it
the seat of a dense population, and a principal granary of the western
continent. Wheat, maize, and tobacco, are cultivated with equal success.
The returns of the agriculturist are large, secure, and of excellent
quality. The last-named article has been grown in considerable quantity
about the river Detroit, near the head of the lake, and favoured, in a
small remission of duty, by the British government, is sent to England,
after having undergone an inland carriage, to Quebec, of 814 miles. Salt
springs exist in almost every township, accompanied, in one or two cases,
by large beds of gypsum. Bog iron ore is common on the north-east side of
the lake, and is worked. The water communications of these countries are
astonishingly easy. Canoes can go from Quebec to Rocky Mountains, to the
Arctic Circle, or to the Mexican Gulf, without a portage longer than four
miles; and the traveller shall arrive at his journey's end as fresh and