4 Statistical Account of Upper Canada. 



than that of England. After winter has set in, which hapM 

 pens about Christmas, an intense frost usually prevails three 

 months, during which the rigour of the season is unremit- 

 ted. Towards the end of March the cold has relented, but 

 vegetation does not effectually commence till the end of 

 April ; it proceeds then, however, with great power. Pease, 

 in the course of six weeks after planting, are generally fit 

 for table. Mr. Gilkison describes the summer as hotter than 

 he ever felt it either in the south of England or the north 

 of France ; and during the dog days more oppressive than 

 the heat of Jamaica. 



IVinds.— From the beginning of June to the end of Au- 

 gust the wind on the lakes continues westerly during the 

 day, and in the evening it becomes southerly. From what 

 cause this resemblance to the alternate sea and land breezes 

 of the West Indies originates Mr. Gilkison has not attempt- 

 ed to ascertain; but he has observed that on the lakes Huron 

 and Superior, which are less oblong than Erie and Ontarion, 

 the wind is more variable, and when westerly is accompa- 

 nied with thick fogs. As the season advances, the regular 

 day and night breezes of the lakes subside, and when the 

 cold weather begins the course of the wind becomes as pre- 

 carious as in other high latitudes. 



Diseases. — The province of Upper Canada is not subject 

 to any particular disease. Although the western district has 

 in part been settled more than a century, the small-pox ha3 

 never reached it. Vaccination has lately been introduced, 

 and all ages have received it. Since the establishment of 

 distilleries the people have become much addicted to drink- 

 ing, which they pretend to say has reduced the frequency 

 of the ague, with which they were formerly often afflicted* 

 The clearing of the country, however, will probably more 

 rationally accouivt for the change. 



Curiosities. — Petrifactions are very common j indeed the 

 whole flat rock in the neighbourhood of Fort Erie ap- 

 pears to be one petrified mass, for at every step something 

 is seen which at one time has been either animal or vege- 

 table substance. Mr. Gilkison saw in a gentleman's pos- 

 scssipin, some y^ars ago, a petrified hand entire, except the 



seGon(i 



