271 June 1749; 



to reach the ground eafily. Thus tfid 

 rowers are forced to ftand upright, whilft 

 they row in a canoe. We kept along the' 

 fhore all the evening, towards the river, 

 it confifted of great hills, and next to the 

 water grew the trees, which I have above 

 mentioned *, and which likewife are to 

 be met with on the fhores of the ifle, in the 

 river, fituate below Albany. The eafterly 

 fhore of the river is uncultivated, woody, 

 and hilly ; but the weftern is flat, culti- 

 vated, and chiefly turned into corn-fields, 

 which had no drains, though they wanted 

 them in fome places. It appeared very 

 plainly here, that the river had formerly 

 been broader. For there is a Hoping bank 

 on the corn-fields, at about thirty yards 

 diftance from the river, witb which it al- 

 ways runs parallel. From this it fuffici- 

 ently appears, that the rifing ground for- 

 merly was the flhore of the river, and the 

 corn-fields its bed. As a further proof, it 

 may be added, that the fame {hells which 

 abound on the prefent fhore of the river, 

 and are not applied to any ufe by the in- 

 habitants, ly plentifully fcattered on thefe 

 fields. I cannot fay whether this change 

 was occafioned by the diminishing of the 



water 



* See paga 251* 



