What Mr. Carver relates concerning this subject, rather tends to confirm the opinion that the waters of the lake do rise. “I had like,” he says, “to have omitted a very extraordinary circumstance relative to these straits;” the Straits of Michillimakinac, between lakes Michigan and Huron. “According to observations made by the French, whilst they were in possession of the fort there, although there is no diurnal flood or ebb to be perceived in these waters, yet from an exact attention to their state, a periodical alteration in them has been discovered. It was observed, that they arose by gradual but almost imperceptible degrees, till they had reached the height of three feet; this was accomplished in seven years and a half; and in the same space of time they as gently decreased, till they had reached their former situation; so that in fifteen years they had completed this inexplicable revolution. At the time I was there, the truth of these observations could not be confirmed by the English, as they had then been only a few years in possession of the fort; but they all agreed that some alterations in the limits of the straits was apparent.” It is to be lamented that succeeding years have not thrown more light on the subject; for since the fort has been in our possession, persons competent to determine the truth of observations of such a nature, have never staid a sufficient length of time there to have had it in their power to do so.
LAKE ONTARIO.
A long series of minute observations are necessary to determine positively whether the waters of the lake do or do not rise and fall periodically. It is well known, for instance, that in wet seasons the waters rise much above their ordinary level, and that in very dry seasons they sink considerably below it; a close attention, therefore, ought to be paid to the quantity of rain that falls, and to evaporation; and it ought to be ascertained in what degree the height of the lake is altered thereby; otherwise, if the lake happened to be higher or lower than usual on the seventh year, it would be impossible to say with accuracy whether it were owing to the state of the weather, or to certain laws of nature that we are yet unacquainted with. At the same time, great attention ought to be paid to the state of the winds, as well in respect to their direction as to their velocity, for the height of the waters of all the lakes is materially affected thereby. At Fort Erie, situated at the eastern extremity of the lake of the same name, I once observed the waters to fall full three feet in the course of a few hours, upon a sudden change of the wind from the westward, in which direction it had blown for many days, to the east-ward. Moreover, these observations ought not only to be made at one place on the borders of anyone of the lakes, but they ought to be made at several different places at the same time; for the waters have encroached, owing to some unknown causes, considerably and gradually upon the shores in some places, and receded in others. Between the stone house, in the fort at Niagara, and the lake, for instance, there is not at present a greater space than ten yards, or thereabouts; though when first built there was an extensive garden between them. A water battery also, erected since the commencement of the present war, at the bottom of the bank, beyond the walls of the fort, was sapped away by the water in the course of two seasons, and now scarcely any vestige of it remains. At a future day, when the country becomes more populous and more wealthy, persons will no doubt be found who will have leisure for making the observations necessary for determining whether the lakes do or do not undergo a periodical change, but at present the inhabitants on the borders of them are too much engaged in commercial and agricultural pursuits to attend to matters of mere speculation, which, however they might amuse the philosopher, could be productive of no solid advantages to the generality of the inhabitants of the country.
OBSERVATIONS.
It is believed by many persons that the waters of Lake Ontario not only rise and fall periodically every seventh year, but that they are likewise influenced by a tide, which ebbs and flows frequently in the course of twenty-four hours. On board the vessel in which I crossed the lake there were several gentlemen of the country, who confidently assured me, that a regular tide was observable at the Bay of Canti; that in order to satisfy themselves on the subject, they had stood for several hours together, on more than one occasion, at a mill at the head of the bay, and that they had observed the waters to ebb and flow regularly every four hours, rising to the height of fourteen inches. There can be no doubt, however, but that the frequent ebbing and flowing of the water at this place must be caused by the wind; for no such regular fluctuation is observable at Niagara, at Kingston, or on the open shores of the lake; and owing to the formation of the Bay of Canti, the height of the water must necessarily vary there with, every slight change of the wind. The Bay of Canti is a long crooked inlet, that grows narrower at the upper end, like a funnel; not only, therefore, a change of wind up or down the bay would make a difference in the height of the water at the uppermost extremity of it; but owing to the waters being concentrated there at one point, they would be seen to rise or fall, if impelled even in the same direction, whether up or down the bay, more or less forcibly at one time of the day than at another. Now it is very seldom that the wind, at any part of the day or night, would be found to blow precisely with the same force, for a given space of two hours, that it had blown for the preceding space of two hours; an appearance like a tide must therefore be seen almost constantly at the head of this bay whenever there was a breeze. I could not learn that the fluctuation had ever been observed during a perfect calm: were the waters, however, influenced by a regular tide, during a calm the tide would be most readily seen.
To return to the voyage. A few hours after we quitted Kingston, on the 7th of September, the wind died away, and during the whole night the vessel made but little way; early on the morning of the 8th, however, a fresh breeze sprang up, and before noon we lost sight of the land. Our voyage now differed in no wise from one across the ocean; the vessel was steered by the compass, the log regularly heaved, the way marked down in the log book, and an exact account kept of the procedures on board. We continued sailing, out of sight of land, until the evening of the 9th, when we had a view of the blue hills in the neighbourhood of Toronto, on the northern side of the lake, but they soon disappeared. Except at this place, the shores of the lake are flat and sandy, owing to which circumstance it is, that in traversing the lake you are generally carried out of sight of land in a very few hours.
NIAGARA.
At day-break on the 10th the fort and town of Niagara appeared under the lee bow, and the wind being favourable, we had every prospect before us of getting up to the town in a few hours; but scarcely had we reached the bar, at the mouth of Niagara River, when the wind suddenly shifted, and after endeavouring in vain to cross it by means of tacking, we were under the necessity of casting anchor at the distance of about two miles from the fort. The fort is seen to great advantage from the water; but the town being built parallel to the river, and no part of it visible to a spectator on the lake, except the few shabby houses at the nearest end, it makes but a very poor appearance. Having breakfasted, and exchanged our habits de voyage, for such as it was proper to appear in at the capital of Upper Canada, and at the center of the beau monde of the province, the schooner’s yawl was launched, and we were landed, together with such of the passengers as were disposed to go on shore, at Mississaguis Point, from whence there is an agreeable walk of one mile, partly through woods, to the town of Niagara.
MISSISSAGUIS.
This point takes its name from the Mississaguis Indians, great numbers of whom are generally encamped upon it. The Mississaguis tribe inhabits the shores of Lake Ontario, and it is one of the most numerous of this part of the country. The men are in general very stout, and they are esteemed most excellent hunters and fishers; but less warlike, it is said, than any of the neighbouring nations. They are of a much darker complexion than any other Indians I ever met with; some of them being nearly as black as negroes. They are extremely dirty and slovenly in their appearance, and the women are still more so than the men; such indeed is the odour exhaled in a warm day from the rancid grease and fish oil with which the latter daub their hair, necks, and faces profusely, that it is offensive in the highest degree to approach within some yards of them. On arriving at Niagara, we found great numbers of these Indians dispersed in knots, in different parts of the town, in great concern for the loss of a favourite and experienced chief. This man, whose name was Wompakanon, had been killed, it appeared, by a white man, in a fray which happened at Toronto, near to which place is the principal village of the Mississaguis nation. The remaining chiefs immediately assembled their warriors, and marched down to Niagara, to make a formal complaint to the British government. To appease their resentment, the commanding officer of the garrison distributed presents amongst them to a large amount, and amongst other things they were allowed no small portion of rum and provisions, upon which the tribe feasted, according to custom, the day before we reached the town; but the rum being all consumed, they seemed to feel severely for the loss of poor Wompakanon. Fear of exciting the anger of the British government would prevent them from taking revenge openly on this occasion; but I was informed by a gentleman in the Indian department, intimately acquainted with the dispositions of the Indians, that as nothing but blood is deemed sufficient in their opinion to atone for the death of a favourite chief, they would certainly kill some white man, perhaps one perfectly innocent, when a favourable and secret opportunity offered for so doing, though it should be twenty years afterwards.