and Geology of Laic e Ontario. 3 



of St. Catherine's. Five British steamboats (besides sloops 

 and schooners, and several American steamboats) navigate the 

 lake, visiting with goods and passengers all the settlements, 

 great and small, on the north shore. Many of these are now 

 respectable towns, whose very names are scarcely known on 

 the face of a map ; while those of older date have grown out 

 of knowledge, such as Kingston §nd Niagara. Among the 

 former are Bath, Bellville, Cobourgh, Port Hope, Ancaster, 

 and Grimsby. The great iron-works established at Marmora, 

 by Mr. Hayes, have been of immense benefit to the country in 

 many points of view. By way of encouragement the British 

 Government at once purchased of him 14,000/. worth of pig- 

 iron. The flour, I may add, of the Canadian side of Lake 

 Ontario, now rivals that so famous of Genesee ; and especially 

 the produce of the mills of Mr. Henry. Hemp might be a 

 staple article of export from Lake Ontario ; but successive at- 

 tempts to promote its cultivation, on the part of Government, 

 have most unaccountably failed. Timber, and particularly 

 oak-staves and pine-shingle, is sent down toMontreal annually 

 in considerable quantities from the bay of Quinte. Intermit- 

 tent fevers are frequent, but mild, on the north shore of this 

 lake, while they are much more malignant on the south shore. 

 This is the only disease with which Lake Ontaiio is visited in 

 a manner at all remarkable. 



Topography. 



Lake Ontario is 290 miles distant from tide-water on the 

 river St. Lawrence. It extends from longitude 75° 41' to longi- 

 tude 79° 7', and from north latitude 43° 5' to north latitude 

 44° 1 2'. It is bounded on the north by the Home, Newcastle, 

 and Midland districts of Upper Canada; and on the south by 

 the Niagara district of that province, and the northern part of 

 the state of New York. 



This lake is of a long oval shape, and tolerably regular in 

 its outline excepting at its east end. It lies nearly east and 

 west, a few degrees only to the north of east. Mr. Bouchette, 

 a topographical writer of great merit, represents this lake to 

 be 171 miles long, 59^ miles in its greatest diameter, (from 

 Irondiquet Bay on the south to Presquisle on the north,) and 

 467 miles in circumference *. Its length may be said, in round 

 numbers, to be five times its average breadth of 35 miles. The 

 narrowest part is opposite the river Niagara, and is nearly 

 30 miles across. From this point to the place oi greatest 

 breadth the change is effected very gradually. 



• Topogi-Hpliy of Caii.iila. 



B 2 The 



