NO EMIGRATION. 105 



that the water in Lake Erie has stood thirty or forty feet 

 higher than now. The Indians have a tradition, that both 

 lakes formerly joined. 



This fall (1828) has been unusually sickly at the lower 

 part of the province, particularly near the shores of Lake 

 Ontario, supposed to be in consequence of the very extraor 

 dinary high water in the lakes this season,* being three or 

 four feet higher than was ever known before on both the 

 lakes ; but the generally high banks of Erie prevented any 

 ill effects. There has been a report that the high water was 

 caused by the breaking away of some portion of the land- 

 barrier in the river between Lake Superior and Huron. 



May 1 , 1829. Winter mild, dry, and open till the middle 

 of February, when we had a little snow and some sharp 

 frost, but no rain, and the frost not steady ; indeed, only a 

 few days sleighing together, occasionally, till the latter end 

 of March, when the snow entirely cleared off; and some 

 few showers of rain came about the 1st of April; but the 

 swamps have not been filled at all this spring. 



July 18. The month of May was rather hot throughout; 

 therm, as high as 86 at times, which brought on the crops 

 very rapidly. June, and up to the present time, cool, plea 

 sant weather; therm. 10 below what it was in May. All 

 kinds of crops good, particularly the wheat, which is elegant, 

 as the Americans term it, and of very superior quality. 



There is a great variety of timber in this country : a short 

 sketch of the most valuable, and the uses to which it is ap 

 plied, is subjoined. It generally stands pretty thick on the 

 ground, from one to six or eight yards apart. White oak, 

 good for shipbuilding, staves, and square timber for exporta 

 tion, wheelwrights, coopers, &c. Red and swamp oak, fit for 

 rails and other inferior purposes, but bad to burn. Pine, 

 for shingle boards and other lumber, building, &c. Black 

 walnut, cherry and curled maple, for cabinet work. Young 

 hickory, for flails, axe-handles, handspikes and horsewhips, 

 hoops, &c. Basswood (lime-tree or linden), used by coach 

 and chair makers, for its lightness, and for bars instead of 



* It is generally asserted and believed, that the water in the lakes 

 rises annually for seven successive years, and then gradually sinks that 

 number, alternately. That it has been rising the last two years, is a 

 fact. 



