194 THAMES UNHEALTHY APPEARANCE OF INHABITANTS. 



water-power was not economically applied; the house without a 

 door ; the machinery entirely of wood ; and the whole erection 

 a bauble of the worst construction. There were perhaps fifty 

 small parcels of wheat for grinding in the mill, and six or 

 seven people were waiting to carry away their flour. This mill 

 cannot make marketable flour at present, and its undurable 

 construction may be considered fortunate for settlers. Grist 

 mills are much wanted in the country, none being effective 

 on the Thames, and I was told wheat has actually come from 

 Michigan to be ground at this wretched mill. 



The river Thames, the letters of which are invariably pro 

 nounced soft by the inhabitants of the country, is of small 

 size, incapable of moving machinery for want of fall, and 

 when seen by me, perhaps not more than equal to the power 

 of a grist mill with one good pair of stones, if fall could be 

 obtained. The banks are low and uninteresting. The water 

 is on a level with Lake St Clair, and is navigable five miles 

 above Chatham. 



Having entered the houses of many of the settlers on Bear 

 creek and the Thames, and observed the countenances of 

 hundreds of people seen on roads and in fields, I was par 

 ticularly struck with the sallow, dried, and sickly appearance 

 of the inhabitants. Perhaps, in the course of three days tra 

 velling, I did not meet half-a-dozen of healthy-looking indi 

 viduals ; a recently-imported old-countryman could always 

 be distinguished by his complexion, and often, also, by his 

 portliness of figure. While speaking on this subject, Mr 

 Goose did not like the chuncky (stout) appearance of Britons, 

 and could not comprehend why the skin of their faces seemed 

 to creep like Muscovado sugar. Ague was evidently not a 

 stranger to the country ; and a lodger in the tavern at Chat 

 ham was suffering under the complaint. 



Chatham is on the south bank of the Thames. Twelve 

 months ago it was said to contain only five or six houses ; 

 now there are nearly twenty. It is visited by steam-boats ; 

 and from being situated at what may be termed the head of 

 the Thames navigation, it is certain of rising at no distant 

 day. There is a rumour of making Chatham, instead of 

 Sandwich, the seat of the district courts, which would be a 



