celebrity of its stupendous falls of Niagara, which form
an impassable barrier to the seaman, and, for a short
space, sever the otherwise uninterrupted chain connecting
the remote fortresses we have described with the Atlantic.
At a distance of a few miles from the falls, the Chippawa
finally empties itself into the Ontario, the most splendid
of the gorgeous American lakes, on the bright bosom of
which, during the late war, frigates, seventy-fours, and
even a ship of one hundred and twelve guns, manned by a
crew of one thousand men, reflected the proud pennants
of England! At the opposite extremity of this magnificent
and sea-like lake, which is upwards of two hundred miles
in circumference, the far-famed St. Lawrence takes her
source; and after passing through a vast tract of country,
whose elevated banks bear every trace of fertility and
cultivation, connects itself with the Lake Champlain,
celebrated, as well as Erie, for a signal defeat of our
flotilla during the late contest with the Americans.
Pushing her bold waters through this somewhat inferior
lake, the St. Lawrence pursues her course seaward with
impetuosity, until arrested near La Chine by rock-studded
shallows, which produce those strong currents and eddies,
the dangers of which are so beautifully expressed in the
Canadian Boat Song,--a composition that has rendered the
"rapids" almost as familiar to the imagination of the
European as the falls of Niagara themselves. Beyond La
Chine the St. Lawrence gradually unfolds herself into
greater majesty and expanse, and rolling past the busy
commercial town of Montreal, is once more increased in
volume by the insignificant lake of St. Peter's, nearly