native citizens entirely out of competition in their own line. Every
species of mere bodily labor is the prerogative of these Irish. Such is
their multitude in comparison with any possible demand for their
services, that it is difficult to conceive how a third part of them
should earn even a daily glass of whiskey, which is doubtless their
first necessary of life,--daily bread being only the second.

Some were angling in the lake, but had caught only a few perch, which
little fishes, without a miracle, would be nothing among so many. A
miracle there certainly must have been, and a daily one, for the
subsistence of these wandering hordes. The men exhibit a lazy strength
and careless merriment, as if they had fed well hitherto, and meant to
feed better hereafter; the women strode about, uncovered in the open
air, with far plumper waists and brawnier limbs as well as bolder faces,
than our shy and slender females; and their progeny, which was
innumerable, had the reddest and the roundest cheeks of any children in
America.

While we stood at the wharf, the bell of a steamboat gave two
preliminary peals, and she dashed away for Plattsburgh, leaving a trail
of smoky breath behind, and breaking the glassy surface of the lake
before her. Our next movement brought us into a handsome and busy
square, the sides of which were filled up with white houses, brick
stores, a church, a court-house, and a bank. Some of these edifices had
roofs of tin, in the fashion of Montreal, and glittered in the sun with
cheerful splendor, imparting a lively effect to the whole square. One
brick building, designated in large letters as the custom-house,
reminded us that this inland village is a port of entry, largely
concerned in foreign trade and holding daily intercourse with the
British empire. In this border country the Canadian bank-notes