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high. The exterior wall appears to have reached its full height, and the whole is expected to be complete in two years more. The interest of the founder's bequest is all that is permitted to be expended on the building. The grounds attached to it contain about thirty acres, I think. It will throw into the shade every other edifice in the United States for beauty and costliness, and I should think would find no rival in any college in Eu

rope.

in her, she towered far above all the other shipping, velut Luna inter ignes minores, and her upper deck overtopped the masts of many of the vessels around her. Contrary to the confident predictions and very natural expectation, amidst this vast crowd, which probably exceeded 100,000, there was scarcely an accident of any moment. The Secretary of the Navy told me that the complement of men for this ship would be 1500. Though she is probably the largest ship that floats, 【 have no doubt she will, in the hands of American sailors, be as manageable as a frigate.

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the young men of this city, as well as Philadelphia, and now supplying to many of the inhabitants the place of more expensive spectacles. The disorders in the currency give a good deal of trouble, and occasion some loss to the careless and improvident. Silver change is rather more plenty here than in Philadelphia. I observed that it was paid by most of those whom I met with in the omnibuses. There is very little building going on now in the city. The ruin which has suc

On Tuesday the 18th, all Philadelphia was in commotion, for it was the day that the Pennsylvania was to be launched into her destined element. Though one o'clock had been appointed the day before by Captain I find a most striking contrast between New York Gwinn, for me to come to the Navy Yard, he this this year and last, whether I go into the shops, the morning informed me that the crowd threatened to be boarding-houses, or the public places. In the first, a so great, that he would recommend me to come at smaller supply of goods, and most of them the remains eleven-1 did so, and at that hour found every window of what had been culled over. Great fall in prices, and of the long building, from which the launch was to be in some branches of trade it is almost as low as oneviewed, so thronged with ladies, that there was room for half. There is no difficulty now in obtaining lodgings no more. After looking about me I found a shady spot where one chooses, as is often the case at this season. outside of the same building, where a bridge across a For two evenings I saw a stream of people on either dock terminates. The crowd kept gathering and in-side of Broadway, and on inquiry, found they had been creasing, until every point from which the ship could to witness a boat race-a favorite amusement among be seen to enter the river, was occupied by a dense mass of human beings. This constituted the most impressive part of the spectacle. Outside of the large edifice which enclosed the ship, the wharf and adjoining grounds were covered with a closely packed multitude composed of every age, sex, and condition. Two or three stages erected at the termination of wharves, and affording advantageous sites, accommodated those who chose to purchase tickets of admission. The buildings attached to the Navy Yard as spar-houses, &c. exhi-ceeded the seeming prosperity of last year, and the bited a throng of anxious heads at every window; and on the ridge of the roof, and along the dormer windows, others were arranged as thick as they could stand. On either side of the ship's expected course through the river were ranged a close tier of vessels of all sizes, with their flags and streamers flying, while two or three large steamboats, crowded to suffocation with gaily dressed people, were moving to and fro on the river. These and a number of long low barges, manned with young gentlemen, dressed as sailors, but in gay costumes, constituted the only moving part of the scene that was visible; for, the preparations made for the launch were concealed from sight by the ship-house, and the noise of cutting away blocks and driving wedges was lost in the buz of such a multitude. On the yards and tops of the large vessels in the stream, men were closely stuck, like flies, and many of them occupied these seemingly uneasy positions some five or six hours, fearing no doubt, if they quitted their posts, they would not be able to re-occupy them. In the distance might be seen, on the Jersey shore, one unbroken line of spectators, who found themselves repaid for exposing themselves to the rays of an unclouded sun, by what they could see of the launch at nearly a mile's distance. At about half after two o'clock, the two signal guns were heard, and soon afterwards the enormous mass was seen to issue slowly, but with increasing swiftness from her cover, and glide gracefully into the water. Her bow soon arose by its buoyancy, and when the stern reached the water, the ship assumed her proper horizontal position, and colossal as was her form, she had a striking air of lightness and beauty. Having but little ballast

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consequent extension of speculation, exceeds anything I could have imagined. One gentleman, himself a merchant, told me that he verily believed the late reverse had made one-half the mercantile community bankrupts! Notwithstanding this severe and instructive lesson, in the course of four or five years, when some will have recovered from their losses, and others are replaced by a new set, and when, according to the usual vicissitudes of trade, the season of prosperity again returns, we shall see those who then figure on the commercial stage, running the same mad career of speculation, and borrowing, of eagerness to obtain credit, and of easy credulity in giving it, to be followed by the same ruinous consequences that we now witness, though not probably to the same extent. There is scarcely any one who profits by the experience of others, and there are not a few who do not profit by their own.

By way of saving time, I set out Sunday evening for Albany, which we reached next morning at sunrise, after a run of about twelve hours; it is often made in ten. We went in the old established line, but there is a rival concern called the People's Line, which takes passengers for fifty cents, one sixth of the charge in the other. Its boats are too crowded to admit of any comfort. It is alleged that when the business was a monopoly, or exclusively enjoyed by one company, the public were not well accommodated, and were often exposed to the insolence of its officers, and even of its servants. This opinion contributes, in some degree, to encourage the opposition, but it is their greater cheapness which mainly insures their success.

I reached Saratoga about one o'clock, in time to make

myself comfortable, and on going down stairs met with a few old acquaintances, but hearing of no one going to Niagara or Buffalo, I concluded to set off to-morrow or next day. On Tuesday I took a ride with Mr. to Barnhalt's, about four miles, and witnessed here, as everywhere else, a most abundant crop of wheat, oats and hay, and a very promising one of Indian corn. Fires were indispensable in the morning of both days I stayed there-and were comfortable throughout most of the day. There was much less than half the company here last year. At nine o'clock on Wednesday, we set off for Schenectaday, and from Mr. of New York, I learnt much valuable information respecting my journey and its objects. It happened to be the day of commencement of Union College, and on my way to Saratoga, Professor P invited me to attend, but having then declined, for want of time, I thought it but decent to make an effort to give attendance during the few hours I was to wait for the afternoon cars to Utica. I did so, but found the church, where the exercises were held, so closely crammed, that it was difficult to get a look inside of the building, and impossible to force one's way to the farther end. I therefore returned to my lodgings, and quietly sat down to write to such members of my family as I had previously neglected. At half past 3 o'clock we sat off in the cars, of which we had nine for passengers in the train, and notwithstanding several stoppages for wood and water, and yet more for the refreshment of the passengers, we reached Utica in little more than five hours-about eighty miles. Many of the travellers at these stations take a hasty meal, especially of coffee or tea, by which they can proceed on without inconvenience or delay in the stages, or canal boats. The crops appeared to improve on the road, but no wheat was yet ripe, or at least none was cut, though some seemed to be sufficiently advanced for the scythe.

I concluded to stop a day at Bagg's Hotel, for the sake of visiting the Trenton Falls, about fifteen miles north of Utica. The next day finding no one who wanted a companion to the Falls, 1 procured a saddle horse and set off by myself; but as the day proved showery, had occasion to regret my improvidence in coming without an umbrella. But by taking shelter twice under the large sheds attached to the tavern stables on the road, I made out to reach Trenton House with only a slight sprinkling. In passing a ridge nearly midway between Utica and the Falls, I had a most beautiful and extensive prospect, first of Utica in the valley to the south, and then of a well-settled and cultivated country to the north. The house is about a quarter of a mile from the Falls, and I soon wended my way, first through a piece of wood to the river bank, and then descended a series of stairs, until I reached what is regarded as the foot of the Falls. The Mohawk has here cut its channel some fifty or sixty feet in a limestone rock, the strata of which are perfectly horizontal, and often not half the thickness of a brick. The river is contracted into a channel of about one hundred feet, and sometimes much less, along which it rushes with great impetuosity and roar, and appears, from the color of the rock it runs over, quite black, except where some ledge of rocks causes it to break into foam. The sides of the channel are everywhere of solid limestone, from fifty to one hundred feet high, and crowned with a thick wood.

On the west side a path has been formed to enable visitors to ascend the stream, and see the different falls and cascades. When the river is low, as at present, a considerable part of its bed is left dry, and as the strata are horizontal, in every direction, and the surface of the rock abounds with little cavities, one may walk very securely, notwithstanding the slime with which many of them are covered. Sometimes the river approaches so near its western bank, that the pathway is very narrow, and to make the passage more safe, an iron chain is fastened along the wall, by which the visitor may hold-but a careful person need never slip on the rock. There are a series of falls of great diversity; sometimes the water rushes over a ledge in an unbroken cataract— then it is divided by points of rock-sometimes it falls over a succession of steps or terraces, and then it rapidly descends an inclined plane in a torrent. The dark hue of the high and perpendicular wall of rock on either side, and the thick wood which surmounts this wall, give an air of gloomy grandeur to the scene. Within a space of about forty yards, the fall of water is 118 feet-about 40 feet is the height of the principal fall. As the channel takes different directions, you cannot see more than two or three falls at once, and sometimes only one. I visited the spot at the upper end, where first Miss Suydam of New York, and then Miss Thorn slipt and fell into the stream. A short rail of iron now affords a defence at that spot against similar accidents. A young physician, Dr. Bills, also lost his life in the same way, about four years ago. He made out to swim to the bank several times, but unable to get up on the rocky bank, or even to hold himself there, he was swept down a cataract of thirty feet perpendicular, and his body was found in the basin at its bottom. The servant who fell in with Miss T. was cast by an eddy of water into a crevice or hollow of a rock, where by the aid of a cane, which a gentleman present extended to him, he was saved. I cannot but think that but for the overpowering effect of the Niagara cataract, these Falls would be a place of general resort and the theme of general admiration, both for grandeur and beauty. When the weather is good, I would advise all visitors who are not with parties to go on horseback.

To rest myself, after a ride of thirty miles, and a scramble over rocks, and up and down long flights of stairs, I laid down, and when I rose, I found it was time to prepare for the canal boat. We left Utica about half past eight o'clock with seventeen passengers, and ere ten o'clock, we were all stowed away on our hanging shelves-I was between two-and whenever my lower neighbor, who was very stout and thick, turned himself round in his berth, I was made sensible of it through the bottom of mine. I however slept quite soundly, and awoke in the morning greatly refreshed. We reached Syracuse, a distance of sixty-one miles by the canal, between eleven and twelve. We soon set off in the mail stage, and arrived at Auburn to dinner. This is a very pretty town, and it contains one of the two state prisons, with several hundred convicts. We drank tea at Geneva, pleasantly situated on Seneca Lake.

We rode some miles on Geneva river, the outlet of the Lake to Ontario, and passed through the two vil lages of Seneca Falls and Waterloo, on its banks-both

seats of manufactures, and very thriving. We had previously passed Cayuga Lake, on a bridge a mile and a quarter long. Handsome country seats begin now to peep through the thick wood, which still encompass these lakes. We reached Canandaigua after eleven o'clock. Two young gentlemen from South Carolina, who were also going to Niagara, concluded with me to proceed to Rochester without stopping, that we might avail ourselves of the rail road cars to Batavia, and perhaps get two or three hours sleep besides. We succeeded in our first object, but owing to the sulkiness of two drivers, failed in the last. At Rochester, we had travelled ninety-six miles since twelve o'clock-that is, in about eighteen hours. We here looked at the Falls of the Genessee, and at eight o'clock, set off on the rail road for Batavia, which we reached in two hours and a half-forty miles. Rochester is supposed now to contain 17,000 inhabitants. It has a great trade in flour in consequence of the number and excellence of its mills. I regretted I had not time to call on Mrs. C, formerly Mrs. D—, of Norfolk.

all dangerous. As one is necessarily drenched to the skin, I did not venture to try it, though all the rest of the company, consisting of four or five, did. We ascended the rock which constitutes the bank of the river, by an excellent road at a moderate angle, and in proceeding to the Table Rock, passed by several small buildings, in which groceries, confectionary, geological specimens and walking canes, are exposed to sale at moderate prices. There are few who do not purchase one or more of these articles, by way of memorial of their visit to this celebrated spot. In one of them is a respectable museum, in which are some zoological specimens rarely met with on this side of the Atlantic; as for instance, the duck-billed quadruped, (ornithorynchus.) In another is a collection of Registers of the visitors for some half dozen years. One here sees false pretension under every variety of form, in the several attempts at wit or humor, at eloquence or sentiment, of the numerous visitors. And if we are often diverted or digusted with the overflowing of a spurious enthusiasm, we are also occasionally greeted with the effusions of real piety, humility and good taste. In general, however, few are tempted to write remarks in books of this sort without a strong tinge of vanity, or at least a love of notoriety, which the writer has made but too manifest. One inscription seemed not a bad burlesque on the inflated nonsense which is here so rife :

"Niagara, Niagara,

I swear you are a staggerer,
And though I'm not a bragger, or
Self-conceited swaggerer,

I swear you are, Niagara,

A tetotacious staggerer!"

the rock, as it manifestly has worn it away from Lewiston, if not lower; but accounts do not agree as to the rate at which the falls have receded. Forsyth, who formerly kept the hotel on the Canada side, told me it had worn away about 40 feet since his recollection, which I think was then about 40 years. Gen. Whit

difference, though in one year, in a particular part of the fall, it was said to have receded about a rod.

Batavia is also a thriving town of respectable size. We here took a coach to Lockport, thirty-two miles, which we reached in four and a half hours, in time for dinner, and the rail road cars to the Falls. This place is remarkable for the number of its locks, and its deep cut for the canal. About sunset, we reached the far famed Niagara, which I had beheld with so much wonder and delight in 1824. My young companions and I lost no time in descending to the fall on the American side, at the sight of which, they were evidently disappointed. We then walked on the bridge which crosses to Goat Island, and there enjoyed the cool breeze, and the sight and roar of the torrent rushing over its rocky │It is admitted that the water is gradually wearing away bed to the precipice below. The village has increased in thirteen years, and now has two large hotels, instead of one. The one we were at, the Cataract House, is well kept, and from its upper windows on the south side a good view of the rapids is afforded. After breakfast the next morning (Sunday, July 30,) we sat out first for Goat Island, or Iris, the name by which it isney says that in 27 years he has not observed much now dignified. The walk, and trees, and surrounding scenery, all appeared very natural to me, and I could hardly believe that thirteen years had elapsed since I saw them before. We viewed the Horse Shoe Falls on the Canada side, from various points, and the interest felt by my fellow travellers, was now greatly increased. They descended the "Biddle Stair" to the river. We then went together to a tower forty feet high, built on the margin of the river, from the top of which the Horse Shoe Fall is seen to great advantage. It here forms a deep indenture, though not a crescent, as is commonly said. From this spot and a bridge near it, to a small rocky islet, the cataract is seen more advantage ously than anywhere else on the American side. Both sheets of water, on either side of Goat Island, may be here seen equally well. We crossed over to the Canada side, and took a view from the Table Rock. Here we look down on the Fall, but from the tower and bridge on the opposite side, we look up. Those who wish to pass under the sheet of water into a large cavern which has been occasioned by the crumbling of the rock, are here furnished with oil cloth caps and dresses, and a guide, and afterwards with a certificate of their exploit. It is now an every day occurrence, and is not considered at

I was enabled to inquire of this last concerning a young woman who had committed suicide soon after I visited the place in 1824. I had noticed an appearance of settled melancholy on her very handsome face, and suspected at the time that disappointment in love was preying on her health and spirits. Gen. W. told me she was supposed to have formed an attachment to his bar-keeper; and at the ball the night before, conceiving herself slighted by him, she put an end to her misery by a dose of opium. On reading at the time the notice of her death in the newspapers, I suspected it was the individual whose beauty and melancholy had attracted my notice, and I felt a curiosity to know something of her story.

No one should attempt to cross the ferry below the falls without an umbrella, unless the wind blows up the river.

A rail road, in the afternoon, took us in two hours to Buffalo. The ride is a very pleasant one, as it is almost the whole way along the Niagara.

Buffalo, when I saw it before, was said to contain 5,000 or 6,000 inhabitants, but probably had not 5,000.

Its population is now said to be from 18,000 to 20,000. | ness of its buildings, some of which have an imposing The American Hotel is one of the largest in the United magnitude, it makes a very striking appearance. It is States, well furnished, and all its arrangements good. The table and attendance were, however, not of a piece. A rain prevented my taking a full view of the town; and when it was over, I made a visit to my old friend A. H. T. I received much useful information from him as to the present and probably future value of lots and lands in this region.

On Monday the 31st of July, I embarked on board the steamer Daniel Webster for Detroit. She is a new boat, of about 350 tons, and is a regular trader between Buffalo and Detroit. A strong breeze directly ahead was discouraging-and the waves it raised, as well as the appearance of the lake itself to the west and north, made me feel as if I was making a sea voyage. The waves are, however, less long and regular, than on the ocean, and the water a paler blue. We soon passed two other steamboats, whose pitchings indicated anything but comfort to their passengers, especially as several of our's were sea sick.

This lake, like all the others, will in time have its margin studded with towns. Thus after 40 miles we came to Dunkirk, a town which though small at present, aspires to be one day the rival of Buffalo. Then a new establishment called Van Buren. We reached Erie, in Pennsylvania, after sunset. The peninsula which gave the name of Presqu' Isle to this place, is now an island, a storm having, some years since, washed away its sandy isthmus. Here, as everywhere else, the towns on the creeks in which the small streams terminate on the lake, are defended from the ice by piers made of frames of timber filled in with stone. This town appears to be thriving, though far less than was anticipated, when it was first planned. The next morning we stopped in Ashtabula, in Ohio. It is on a creek of the same name. Then we put into Fair Port, on Grand River. From hence a line of stages runs across to Wellesville, on the Ohio, 92 miles in 20 hours; from whence a steamboat takes passengers to Pittsburg, | in about four hours. This is the nearest route between this lake and the Ohio. The town contains about 800 inhabitants.

We next stopped at Cleaveland, where the canal across Ohio terminates. This is the largest town which Ohio yet has on the lake. It contains, some say, 10,000 inhabitants. About 30 sail of vessels, chiefly schooners, were lying in the port. The ground here rises into hills, on the table land of which are handsome sites for building, and in fact some well built streets. On the opposite sides of the river are rival towns-that on the east called Cleaveland, and that on the west Ohio city; and as usual, there is great bickering and contention among them about trade, the location of bridges, &c. On one occasion, the parties came to blows, when several were wounded, and one lost his life. We witnessed, from the deck of the steamboat, a quarrel, which ended in a fight; and understood the occasion to be a young man had recently married in the place, and was about to leave his bride for the sake of another woman, who had taken her passage in our steamboat. Here is also a stage to Beaver, on the Ohio, by which Pittsburg may be reached in 34 hours.

built almost entirely of brick or of a free stone, which is in the immediate vicinity, nay in the very town itself, and is of excellent quality. It is a soft white limestone, free from grit or flaw, and very easily wrought. Four churches in the rear of the town have been already built of it. As so valuable a material for building always has a very auspicious effect on the architecture of a place, the town, if otherwise well supported, will probably be the Athens of Lake Erie. Its stone is already transported to Buffalo and Detroit for their handsomest buildings. The passage to Sandusky is narrow, by reason of an extensive shoal between the two points of land which terminate its bay. It is therefore less accessible in bad weather than most of the other lake towns. Some two or three islands are here seen for the first time, in ascending the lake. At daylight next morning we were roused from our slumbers by the bell, which announced our arrival at Toledo. This stands on the left bank of the Maumee river, some two or three miles from its mouth. It consists of small wooden houses, all new and painted white. There was here neither sail-vessel nor steamboat, except a small one, which seemed to be a ferry boat between Toledo and Perrysburg, a town yet higher up than Toledo. Two miles below Toledo is Manhattan, near the mouth of the Maumee. These two towns are rivals for the commerce of this river and station. They both have shot up like mushrooms to their present size, (about 100 or 200 dwelling houses,) in two years; but it is for time to determine how much of this vigorous growth is owing to their natural advantages, and how much to the forcing process of the speculator, and his credulous dupes. The effect of these villages, with their white houses, contrasted with the dark green wood in which they are embosomed, is very fine, when viewed from the lake at some miles' distance, and one can almost fancy them new Genoas, Leghorns, &c. Soon after losing sight of Manhattan, we see Munroe, with its buildings scattered along the shores of the lake to a great distance.

This lake is the shallowest of the five-its depth being only from 3 to 15 fathoms. It consequently sooner feels the effects of the wind, and is sooner and more entirely frozen over than the others. Its navigation is closed about five months in the year-from the 1st of December to the last of April. It furnishes an abundance of fish in the spring and winter, which has proved a very valuable resource in the present year, when butcher's meat has so increased in price. But it is far inferior in its supply of fish to Huron, or Michigan, or even Ontario.

All its towns are provided with piers to defend their harbors from ice and tempests, and most of them with lighthouses. Some of the towns have two of these. The whole number on the American side is about 12 or 15. It would seem a strange construction of the constitution, which would distinguish between the constitutionality of a lighthouse on an Atlantic port, and that of one on a town on a shore of these inland seas. The shores of the lake are commonly very low, and no where present any point of much elevation. We reached Sandusky in the evening. It is situated Sometimes for miles the upper line of the bank is as at the head of a bay of that name; and by the white-level and straight as that of the water. The soil ap

pears to be very good; but in general a belt of wood | beginning of next. This will enable the traveller to is left untouched, to screen the cultivated lands from pass from Detroit to Chicago in less than two days. the northern blasts that come across the lake. Vege- A rail road across Ohio will give one the choice of tation is somewhat later on its margin, on account of coming by Philadelphia or New York. these cold winds; but after it has taken a start, it no doubt is benefitted by the moisture it is perpetually receiving from evaporation. As yet, one sees but few vessels traversing this water-seldom more than two or three are in sight at once. We have met, on our voyage thus far, (between Manhattan and Detroit) perhaps six or seven steamboats; none of them with many passengers. The transition from the bustling locomotion of last year to the comparative quiet of this, has been as striking and as disheartening here as in every other part of the Union.

I am told that the contrast between the British and American sides of the lake is very great-there being far greater activity and improvement on this side. There are not only more towns, more shipping, and commerce, but a far better husbandry. This voyage, which will be likely to occupy near two days and a half, may be easily completed in 24 hours, in one of the fastest boats, and by not stopping at any intermediate points. We have already stopped at seven different places, and spent on an average an hour at each, besides the time lost in deviating from the direct course. All the towns on the lake are supported by dry goods and provision shops, and by the ordinary mechanical trades. Manufactures seem not yet to be extensively carried on in any of them. None of them have any water power immediately within their limits; but several of the streams on which they are respectively situated have, a few miles in their rear, a considerable fall, which will afford them hereafter cheap and ample means of working mills and other machinery. This is especially the case at Toledo, where a canal will, for ten miles, I am told, afford a head of water as exhaustless as the Maumee river, of 20 feet fall. In the meanwhile, they occasionally use steam mills.

I hear the French language also very frequently spoken in the streets of Detroit. They who speak it seem to be laboring or market people. Opposite to the city is the British village of Sandwich, consisting of a small number of straggling and ordinary houses. Along the whole course of the river, on the Canada side, one sees the settlements of the French inhabitants the same now as they probably were a hundred years since. The houses are of wood, unpainted often, and consisting of but a single story; most of their barns are thatched with straw. Their lands are as level and apparently as rich as river low grounds, which in fact they are. They are proverbially tenacious of their customs and modes of living, and are said to be indifferent husbandmen; but quiet, unambitious, and frugal. They supply Detroit with the greater part of its vegetables. They grind altogether with windmills; and have here, as in Louisiana, divided their lands into long narrow slips, so that each settler may have a front on the river. If this practice is a convenience to all, it is also an inconvenience, by putting every farmer three miles, or near it, from a part of his farm, and that not a large one.

One is struck with the greater freshness of popularity, if I may so speak, which Mr. Jefferson enjoys in these western regions, than in the east. His name may be met with everywhere on steamboats and vessels, on sign-posts and streets. The largest or main street of this city, is Jefferson Avenue; the two largest steamboats on the lakes are the James Madison and Thomas Jefferson; and Jefferson House is the name of one of its hotels. How vain then is the attempt of certain puny writers of the federal party to cry down a name which has become so endeared to the people, because it is associated with their most valued rights and most important interests. Probably they who are without property, or have the smallest share of it, value their

I saw two negro men on board the steamboat, both of whom I found came from Virginia. One said he was emancipated by his master in Richmond, the other ad-political franchises more highly than do any other class, mitted that he had run away, but refused to say from whom he had lived in the country.

for the simple reason that it is all they have. *
Drank tea at Chancellor F-'s. From thence to a con-
cert. *** I had the pleasure of meeting Mrs. M-
and her mother, whom I had once known so well in
Williamsburg, but had not seen for many years. It

From Erie we passed into the strait (Detroit river) which connects that lake with St. Clair, and had a delightful run of 29 miles, in a fine day, to the city to which that strait has given its name. Detroit, at pre-gave me real pleasure to find that the faculties of the sent the metropolis of Michigan, is pleasantly situated on the west bank of the river; and from little more than 2,000 inhabitants, which it contained in 1830, it is supposed now to have a population of 10,000. The town seems to abound with Indians, who live in the neighborhood. One meets, in the street, with gangs of them, composed of men, women, and children, in their ordinary costume of leggins, moccasins, and blankets or hunting shirts, with their long coal black locks quite uncovered. They have, for the most part, a very squalid appearance.

Detroit has an over-proportion of clothing stores, from which I inferred there was much smuggling of clothes from the Canada side. Their articles are also somewhat cheaper than in the great cities. A rail road from Detroit to Michigan city, 197 miles, is in progress, and will be finished in the course of this year, or the

old lady were as unimpaired as her former kind feelings to me were unabated. *** The plain on which this town stands is about 30 feet above the river. This rises sometimes five feet above its ordinary level, under the influence of a strong and continued wind. Rain has no effect. Last year the river was frozen across, but this is unusual. They are preparing to erect an University, which they are disposed to organize on a magnificent scale, as they have the most ample means of endowment from the proceeds of public lands set apart for this purpose. These may even amount to five millions. They have offered 1000 dollars for a plan, and propose to have 20 professors when the scheme is in full operation.

The next morning, agreeable to appointment, I went with the ***** over to the Canada side, where we had a delightful ride along the banks of the river, and in view

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