164 Samia to Toronto^ 



after his defeat ; and General Vincent, after being driven 

 from the Niagara frontier, and previous to his brilliant 

 victory over the American army at Stony Creek, made his 

 rendezvous at Burlington Heights. General Drummond, 

 again we are told, retired after the attack on Fort Erie to 

 Fort George and Burlington Heights. 



The streets of Hamilton are wide and well laid out, and 

 the buildings generally very elegant, being built principally 

 of white stone. An ample supply of this latter near the 

 city has afforded the citizen a means of embellishment not 

 possessed naturally by the sister City of Toronto. Burling- 

 ton Bay is a very beautiful basin, five miles long and two 

 wide, and navigable in all parts to within a few yards of the 

 shore, making one of the most commodious and safe har- 

 bours on Lake Ontario. It abounds in pike, bass, perch, 

 and eels. During the winter a number of spearing-houses 

 are erected upon the Bay, and a large haul of fish is annually 

 made. The method of catching fish by the spear is very 

 exciting ; the house is rendered impervious to the Hght, and 

 a circular hole of about a yard in diameter is cut in the ice ; 

 the house being dark, renders the water quite clear, and the 

 fisherman can see to the bottom. A small decoy fish made 

 of wood, and painted in bright brilliant colours, is properly 

 weighted and worked in the water by means of a string ; 

 around this the fish disport themselves, and the expert 

 spearsman can select the largest, and by a dexterous throw 

 of his spear pierce it wdth the prongs. Some of the finest 

 fish are caught by this means, as they fearlessly approach 

 the decoy, and appear unaware of the p^roximity of danger. 

 It is unlawful to catch any but bass, pike, and a few other 

 kinds of fish by this means, as it is very destructive. The 

 best day for sport is after a storm, with a south-west wind 

 blowing pretty stiffly, as then the fish are on the move. The 

 method of fishing with a spear is not so exciting as the fine 

 old sport of angling. It lacks that glorious uncertainty after 



