MOUTH OF THE THAMES. 203 



On advancing westward, the soil improves, and some parts are 

 clay of the first quality. The grass on much of this prairie 

 is four feet high, and as thick as it can stand ; no part of Illi 

 nois seems richer. 



No part of this prairie is cultivated ; it is so little above 

 the level of Lake St Clair, that it is doubtful if it can be 

 drained, and much of it at present indicates wetness. I was 

 anxious to ascertain the practicability of draining the prairie ; 

 but well-informed people at Sandwich and Detroit told me, 

 instruments for levelling could not be obtained nearer than 

 New York, and all streams being dry, there were no means 

 of approximating the point. Some of the farmers on the 

 Thames maintained there was no difficulty in the matter, and 

 all mentioned Lake Erie, and not St Clair, as the outlet. 

 I had no opportunity of forming an opinion on the subject, 

 but if the drainage can only be effected by Lake Erie, the 

 undertaking will be far too expensive for a private individual ; 

 and, in the present circumstances of Canada, not likely to 

 repay a company for the outlay. 



Lake St Clair, and the other lakes connected with the river 

 St Lawrence, do not rise and fall by floods and droughts like 

 ordinary collections of water in other parts of the world, yet 

 it is subject to variations at distant periods ; and this, I be 

 lieve, has not been satisfactorily accounted for. The French 

 woman who keeps the inn at the mouth of the Thames told 

 me the lake was lower now than she had ever known it, and 

 had been falling for years past. She said it continued to rise 

 for years formerly, and drove people from the houses she 

 pointed out, at some distance on the prairie, and thought it 

 now eighteen inches below its highest level. This change of 

 elevation on the lake might affect the prairie, even when 

 drained. 



The grass on the margin of the prairie near the Thames, 

 and more especially in the neighbourhood of French church, 

 six or seven miles from the junction of the river with 

 Lake St Clair, is of the richest description, having a large 

 portion of white clover, and cropped as short as teeth could 

 make it. Yet the animals of all descriptions roaming on it 

 were small, lean, stunted-looking creatures. This, in some 



