opposite shore in Seneca County is Ovid, situated on a pretty eminence, overlooking the water; also Lodi, Brutus, and various other classically named places. These names, it appears, were bestowed by the Government on townships, distributed among the Revolutionary soldiers, which extended originally over a large tract, from the borders of the lake, almost as far east as Utica The veterans were soon, however, over-reached, and induced to dispose of their lands to some scheming and designing speculators, who re-sold them most advantageously to the present possessors, persons of respectability; and the same land which would not then bring a dollar in the market will now produce from 25 to 40 and even 50 per acre. The soil is a strong loam, and well adapted for wheat. Seneca is, however, an Indian name, although it might naturally be supposed to have the same origin, in imitation of antiquity, as the neighbouring towns of Marathon, Pharsalia, Homer, Virgil, and Cassius. The scenery upon the lake closely resembles that of Cayuga, being unvaried and uninteresting; the water is, however, beautifully clear, the pebbly bottom being visible in a calm day at the depth of 30 feet. Being principally supplied by springs, the ice upon it never becomes so thick as to impede the navigation; during the severe frost of 1831, a thin sheet formed on some parts, but was broken up by the first light breeze which ruffled the water.

The town of Geneva possesses a beautiful situation upon a rising bank at the northern extremity of the lake, with terraced gardens approaching to the water's edge, and many pretty villas scattered around. About a mile from the town, on the borders of the water, are some extensive glass works, which however have not been worked during the last year, the owner having failed to a great amount, through mismanagement in his farming speculations. When the works were first established, they occupied a narrow space in the midst of a forest where fuel was plentiful; but the ground is now so well cleared about the town that a cord of wood, measuring 4 feet in height and 8 in length, costs a dollar and a quarter, (more than 5s. sterling.) An opinion prevails, from an appearance of

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when required. Geneva is altogether a pretty spot, and contains one particularly fine street, in which is the college, a dull, heavy-looking building, with castellated walls and other tasteless appendages. But the private residences equal any in the State.

Proceeding on our journey at mid-day, on the 11th, we passed through a fine rich country, chequered with heavy crops of every grain. The apples appeared perfectly ripe, and the peach-trees were every where loaded with fruit. The soil evidently increased in richness the farther we proceeded to the west, and the cultivated lands about these parts produced from 16 to 25 bushels of wheat per acre, bringing generally a dollar per bushel of 60lb., being always sold by weight. The buildings on the farms are commonly wood, though bricks are nearly as cheap, selling from 3 to 4 dollars per thousand, and from their superiority, both as to safety and durability, will probably become more and more general. The preference given to wooden ones at present arises from the little time required to erect them, and their being habitable immediately. Farming labourers' wages are not so high as one would be led to suppose from the price of other trades' labour; they receive generally about 12 dollars a month and their board. In harvest time however a good cradler will earn a dollar and a half per diem, and be found in provisions also. The threshing machine being generally used in these parts will much tend to lower the price of labour. At one farm by the road side, we saw men employed in carrying wheat from a field into an adjoining barn, where it was immediately transferred to the threshing-machine, and forthwith despatched to market. The poorer class who wish to avoid expense, labour, and loss of time, send their wheat to persons who keep machines for letting out, and who retain a small portion of the grain in lieu of a pecuniary remuneration for their trouble.

The ground in the vicinity of Canandaigua, fifteen miles from Geneva, was kept in a state of cultivation by the Indians, prior to General Sullivan's march through the country fifty years since, when the whole western part of the State of New York was in possession of the

Six Nations, of whom now scarcely a vestige remains. The town is at the outlet of the Canandaigua Lake, and in an unhealthy situation, owing to the water being dammed up near the outlet for the purpose of supplying a millwheel, thus forming a large wet marsh, which produces a deadly fever in the autumnal months. Endeavours have been made by actions at law to compel the mill proprietor to lower his dam, or to surround it with a bank to prevent the water overflowing the country, but hitherto to no purpose. The town consists of one principal street, two miles in length and about 150 feet in breadth, with gardens and locust trees in front of the houses. It is generally considered the handsomest place in the State, though, in my opinion, not equal to Skaneateles.

From Canandaigua, we travelled over a hilly and sandy road, running parallel with the canal, and under its great embankment over the Irondequoit Creek. This immense

work, for a distance of two miles, averages a height of seventy feet above the plain across which it is carried. The banks being chiefly of sand, great caution is necessary in watching and puddling any small crevices which may appear. Two years since, the water forced its way through the embankment, and, rushing down upon the road and plain beneath, swept away every thing which opposed the fury of its course. The lesser sand-hills at this time present evident marks of the furious torrent which passed over them.

At sunset, descending a hill, we entered upon a flat, marshy plain, on which the town of Rochester is situated. It has more the appearance of a town in a new world than any I visited, and nothing can be more miserable than its appearance from a distance. An open space has been merely burnt in the forest, and the town has been run up without any attempt at getting rid of the innumerable stumps of trees, which even make their appearance in the outer streets of the place. It is, in truth, a city in the wilderness, and cannot be healthy, so long as it is surrounded by such dense, dark forests. The trees in America are not felled so that the stump remains level with the ground, as in England, but according to the con

about three feet from the root. Where a thick forest has thus been cut down, the desolate appearance the face of the country presents can be scarcely imagined :large blackened trunks, and arms partly consumed by fire, lie encumbering the ground till they decay, or are again consigned to the fire by some more industrious farmer than the generality of the Americans. At Rochester however nothing of this kind has yet taken place, though it is the most thriving town in the State. The softer kinds of wood, such as birch and beech, decay sufficiently in six or seven years to admit of being knocked up, but hemlock and pine will scarcely be affected by the seasons of half a century.

Crossing the Genessee River, we entered the principal part of the town, and drove to the Eagle, situated in the main street, a fine hotel with excellent rooms and an attentive landlord. The town has risen in an incredibly short space of time twenty years since was a wild uninhabited tract where 14,000 people now earn a livelihood. Its rapid rise originated from the Erie Canal passing through the town, and the Genessee affording so great a water-power to the extensive flour, cotton, and other mills on its banks. The canal crosses the river by a fine aqueduct 300 yards above the Falls, where the celebrated leaper, Sam Patch, took his last and fatal descent in 1829. The Falls are over a perpendicular ledge of rock, 97 feet in height: with that descent however he was not satisfied, but had a platform erected to the height of 25 feet, on a small island which divides it, and in the presence of thousands of spectators precipitated himself into the gulf beneath, from which he never re-appeared. Many ladies who were the innocent spectators of his death, little imagining there could be any risk, as he had already made a similar descent from the Falls of Niagara, fainted when, after anxiously awaiting some seconds for his re-appearance above the surface of the water, they at last discovered by the shriek of horror which arose from the assembled crowd that they had been instrumental in the destruction of a fellow-creature; and every one regretted, now it was too late, that such an

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Six Nations, of whom now scarcely a vestige remains. The town is at the outlet of the Canandaigua Lake, and in an unhealthy situation, owing to the water being dammed up near the outlet for the purpose of supplying a millwheel, thus forming a large wet marsh, which produces a deadly fever in the autumnal months. Endeavours have been made by actions at law to compel the mill proprietor to lower his dam, or to surround it with a bank to prevent the water overflowing the country, but hitherto to no purpose. The town consists of one principal street,

two miles in length and about 150 feet in breadth, with gardens and locust trees in front of the houses. It is generally considered the handsomest place in the State, though, in my opinion, not equal to Skaneateles.

From Canandaigua, we travelled over a hilly and sandy road, running parallel with the canal, and under its great embankment over the Irondequoit Creek. This immense work, for a distance of two miles, averages a height of seventy feet above the plain across which it is carried. The banks being chiefly of sand, great caution is necessary in watching and puddling any small crevices which may appear. Two years since, the water forced its way through the embankment, and, rushing down upon the road and plain beneath, swept away every thing which opposed the fury of its course. The lesser sand-hills at this time present evident marks of the furious torrent which passed over them.

At sunset, descending a hill, we entered upon a flat, marshy plain, on which the town of Rochester is situated. It has more the appearance of a town in a new world than any I visited, and nothing can be more miserable than its appearance from a distance. An open space has been merely burnt in the forest, and the town has been run up without any attempt at getting rid of the innumerable stumps of trees, which even make their appearance in the outer streets of the place. It is, in truth, a city in the wilderness, and cannot be healthy, so long as it is surrounded by such dense, dark forests. The trees in America are not felled so that the stump remains level with the ground, as in England, but according to the con