94 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR 



June, 1842. 



tliieatening my life: 1 directed him to a small 

 side pocket, in which he fotmd three dollars ; all 

 I had.- But he contiiuied to threaten, and 1 said 

 lie misht search nie. This he did immediately, 

 unloosing my stock, and tearing open my waist- 

 coat, and leaving me in a very uneasy posture.— 

 But he was nosoonergone than an officer bring- 

 insnp some troop.s to which ihe iiraUleur proba- 

 bly belonged, and happening to halt where I lay, 

 stooped down and addressed me saying he feared 

 i uas badly wounded. I answered that I was, 

 and expressed a wisli to be carried to tlie rear. — 

 He said it was against their orders to remove even 

 their own men; but that if they gained the day, 

 (and he understood that the Duke of Wellington 

 was killed, and tliat six of our battalions had sur- 

 rendered) every attention in his power should be 

 shown to me. I complained of thirst, and he 

 held his bottle to my lips, directing one of his 

 soldiers to lay me straiglit on my side, and placed 

 a knapsack under my head. He then passed on 

 into the action, soon perhaps to want but not to 

 receive the same assistance, and I shall never 

 know to whose generosity 1 was indebted, as I 

 believe, for my life. By and by another tirailleur 

 came up, a young man full of ardor. He knelt 

 down and fired over nie many limes, and con- 

 versed with me very gaily all the while; at last 

 he ran off saying: " Vons serez bein arise d'ap- 

 prendre, que nous allons vous retirer. Boa jour 

 nionami!" (You will be pleased to hear that 

 we are going to retire. Good day, my friend.) 



It was dusk when two squadrons of Prussian 

 cavalry, each of them two deep, came across the 

 valley "and passed me in fnll trot, lifting me from 

 the ground, and tumbling me about cruelly. The 

 clatter of their approach and apprehensions they 

 excited, may easily be imagined. A gun taking 

 that direction must have destroyed me. The bat- 

 tle was now at an end, or removed to a distance. 

 The shouts and imprecations, the outcries of 

 " Five H Empereur!" and discharges of musketry 

 and cannon -were over, and the groans of the 

 wounded all around me became every instant 

 more and more audible. I thought the night 

 would never end. Much about this time, I found 

 a soldier lying across my legs. He had probably 

 crawled thither in hi.-i agony; and his weight, his 

 convulsive motions, his noi-ses, and the 'air rush- 

 ing through a wound in his side, distressed me 

 greatly: the last circumstance most of all. I 

 had a wound of the same nature myself It was 

 not a dark night, and parties were wandering 

 about to plunder. Several stragglers looked at 

 me as they jjassed by, one after another, and at 

 last one stopped to examine me. 



I told him as well as I was able, for I spoke 

 German very imperfectly, that I was a British of- 

 ficei', and had been j>hmdered already ; he did 

 not desist, however, and puiled me about roughly. 

 An hour before midnight, I saw a man in an Eng- 

 lisli uniform walking towards me; he was, I sus- 

 pect, on the same errand, and he came and look- 

 ed me in the face; I spoke instantly, telling him 

 who I was, and assuring him of a reward if he 

 would remain with me. He said he belonged to 

 the 40tli, and had missed his regiment ; he re- 

 leased me frotn a dying soldier, anil stood over 

 me as a sentinel, pacing backwardsand forwarils. 

 Day broke, and at six o'clock in the morning, 

 some English were seen at a distance. He ran 

 to them. A messenger being sent to Hervey, u 

 cart came for me, and I was placed in it, and car- 

 ried to the village of Waterloo, a mile and a half 

 off, and lain in the bed from which Gordon, as I 

 understood afterwards, had just been carried out. 

 I had recfived seven wounds. 



A Peep at the Lake Fisheries. 

 Detroit Uiver — St. Clair River — Lake Hd- 

 RO.N, iMicHiGAN AND St;pERioR.— With the im- 

 mense business which is destined to be done on 

 our lakes, that of the fisheries should not be over- 

 looked, as it has already become a considerable 

 item in our exports. The number and varieties 

 offish taken, are worthy of notice, and it is sta- 

 ted tliat no Iresh waters known, can, in any re- 

 sjiect, bear a comparison. 



From the earliest period of the settlement on 

 the shores ol" the lakes, lisliing has been carried 

 on to supply the inhabitants with a part of their 

 food, but not until within the last five years have 

 they become an article of export. Since that 

 time the business has rapidly increased. The 

 number of barrels taken, so far as information 



can be gathered, in 18-35, was 8,000, and in 1840 it 

 reached 32,005 barrels. 



The weight to which some of the fish attain, is 

 unparalleled, except on the Mississippi, as fol- 

 lows : 



Names of Fish. Greatest Weight. Average. 



Stumeon 120 70 lbs. 



Trout GO in to 20 



Muskelunjah -JO 10 to 15 



Pickerel 13 n io 6 



Mullet 10 3 to 6 



White Fish 2 to 3 



At the Sault Ste. Mane 'I to o 



Perch 1 



Roach 1 



Black Bass 2 to 3 



Bill Fish 6 to 8 



Cat Fish 10 to 20 



Sisquoette 8 to 10 



The varieties usually taken for pickling are, 

 trout, pickerel, white fish and sisquoette ; the lat- 

 ter, however, is only to be found in Lake Supe- 

 rior. 



Since the projected canal at the Sank Ste. Ma- 

 rie has been suspended, Yankee enterprise, at 

 great expense, in the absence of artificial locks, 

 has surmounted the difficulty in getting over the 

 falls, leading from Lake Michigan to Lake Su- 

 perior, and within the two past years two vessels, 

 by means of slides, rollers, &.c. have reached the 

 upper lake. Oue of them is owned by J. L. Ank- 

 rim and others, and the other by a Cleaveland 

 company. 



Three vessels have also been bnilt on Lake 

 Superior by the American Fur Company. The 

 two former vessels will hereafter bp engaged in 

 the fishing trade, in freighting salt, provision.*, &c. 

 to various points on the lakes, and returning with 

 fish. Heretofore the American Fur Company 

 have monopolized the trade. This will open a 

 new era in the upper lake fisheries, as they are 

 said to be inexhaustible. 



From the following table, of the amount bar- 

 relled, which was obtained from various sources, 

 the rapid increase of the business will be seen : 

 183(5. 1837. 1840. 



Number of barrels 12,200 14,100 32,005 



The average price offish per barrel, for the 

 five past years in this city, is eight dollars, which 

 gives a total value of the business in 1840,at $22G,- 

 040. Thus in its inliinry it adds this amount an- 

 nually to the wealth of Michigan ; gives employ- 

 niant to a great number of persons; and allow- 

 ing six hundred barrels as freight for a vessel, it 

 would require fifty-four to transport the article to 

 market. Its importance in augmenting the 

 wealth of the west, particularly in a few years, 

 when the business is more extensively pursued, 

 is not surpassed by any other species of traffic, 

 and presents a marked example of productive la- 

 bor. 



There is one obstacle in connection with it that 

 should be removed. The British side of the lake, 

 also, abounds in fine fishing grounds, but in con 

 sequence of a duty of $1 per barrel, which our 

 government iiiqiose on fish taken in British wa- 

 ters, but little has been done. It is to be hojied 

 our Senators and Representatives in Congress, 

 will bring forward the subject at the present ses- 

 sion, and allow American fishermen, on Ameri- 

 can bottoms, to enter American ports, free of du- 

 ty. — Detroit Daily Advertiser. 



Return of the South Sea Kxploring Expedition. 



The U. S. corvette Vincennes, fl.ig ship of the explor- 

 ing expedition, arrived at New York on Friday afternoon, 

 from a cruise of nearly four years. The following ac- 

 count of the labors of the expedition, lias been furnished 

 to the public prints of that city by some of the officers 



The Exploring Squadron sailed from the United States 

 on the 18th of August, 1838, and has been absent nearly 

 four years ; during which time, we learn that the different 



vessels have sailed about four hundred thousand miles. 

 The Expedition has thoroughly executed every part of the 

 duties confided to it by the government. 



The positions assigned on the charts to several vigias, 

 reefs, shoals, and islands, have been carefully looked for, 

 run over, and found to have no existence in or near the 

 places assigned them. 



Several of the principal groups and islands in the Pa- 

 cific Ocean have been'visited, examined and surveyed ; a 

 friendly intercourse, and protective commercial regula- 

 tions, established with the chiefs and natives ; aggressions 

 on our citizens and commerce redressed, and a justly mer- 

 ited punishment meted out in some flagrant cases of un- 

 provoked and cold blooded murder. 



The discoveries in the Antarctic Oce.m (Antarctic con- 

 tinent — observations for fixing the Southern Magnetic 

 pole, &c.,) preceded those of the French and English 

 expeditions. 



The report which has been in circulalion.of Capt. Ross 

 having run over some portion of the land discovered by 

 this Expedition, is UHlbunded. Do land to the eaalvoard 

 of IGO del. of cast longitude, ivas discovered, seen or 

 claimed, by the .\ineric.aii Expedition, as appears by Capt. 

 Wilkes' report to the iNavy Department, published in 

 1340, after the return of the Squadron to New Zealand. 

 If this statement originated with Capt. Ross, based upon 

 the particular chart of the Antarctic ice, and discoveries 

 of land, with the full explanatory letter which was fur- 

 nished him by Capt Wilkes (previous to Capt. Ross's an- 

 tarctic cruise,) he (Capt. Ross) must have taken that por- 

 tion of land reported to have been seen by Bellamy in 

 1839, which was represented on it, as being in 163 deg. or 

 1G5 deg. east longitude, or thereabouts, and which the 

 American Expedition had never seen or heard of until its 

 return to Sidney, New South Wales, after their discover- 

 ies in the Antarctic Ocean. 



Capt. Ross, according to his report, has never passed 

 over, or gone so far west as 160 deg. east in latitude 67 

 deg. south ; consequently he could not have seen the 

 land discovered and claimed by the American Expedition, 

 but seems to have run over' the position where land is 

 reported to have been seen by his own countryman Bel- 

 lamy. 



The Expedition, during its absence, have also examined 

 and surveyed a large portion of the Oregon Territory, n 

 part of Upper California, including the Columbia and 

 Sacramento rivers, with their tributaries. Several, ex- 

 ploring parties from the Squ.adron have explored, exam- 

 ined, and fixed those portions of the Oregon Territory 

 least known. A map of the Territory, embracing its ri- 

 vers, sounds, harbors, coasts, forts, &c., has been prepar- 

 ed, which will furnish the government with a mass of 

 valuable information relative to its possessions on the 

 north-west coast, and the whole of Oregon. 



Experiments were made with the pendulum, on " Mouna 

 Loa" on the Island of Hawaii, one of the Sandwich 

 Islands, at a height of fourteen thousand feet above the 

 level of tho sea. Topographical surveys and views 

 were made of some of its active and most extensive 

 craters. 



Experiments have been made with the pendulum, mag- 

 netic apparatus, and various other instruments, on all oc- 

 casions — the temperature of the ocean, at various depths, 

 ascertained, in the dilTerent seas traversed, and full me- 

 teorological and other observations kept up during the 



Charts of all tlie surveys have been made, with views 

 and sketches of headlands, towns or villages, &c., with 

 descriptions of all that appertains to the localities, pro- 

 ductions, language, customs and manners. 



.\t some of the Islands, this duty has been attended 

 with much labor, exposure and risk of life ; the treacher- 

 ous character of the natives rendering absolutely necessa- 

 ry that the officers and men should be armed while on 

 duty, and at all times prepared against their murderous 

 attacks. On several occasions, boats having been absent 

 from the different vessels of the squadron, on surveying 

 duty, (the greater portion of which has been performed in 

 boats,) among islands, reefs, &c., for a period of ten, 

 twenty, and tTiirty days at one time. On one of these 

 occasions, two of the officers were killed at the Fiji 

 group, while defending their boat's crew from an attack by 

 the natives. 



The scientific gentlemen have been actively engaged 

 in their various departments, and subject to all the expo- 

 sures incident to researches among dangerous and hostile 

 savazes. Mr. Hale, the Philologist of the expedition, was 

 leit at the Columbia river, for the purpose of prosecuting 

 his labors among the diffei'ent tribes of the Oregon Terri- 

 tory, and may be expected home, overland, early in Au- 



Soveral islands not laid down in the charts have been 

 discovered, on one of which the natives offered worship, 

 evidently believing that their visitors had come from the 



The Sooloo sea has also been examinod, several islands 

 found to have been erroneously laid down upon the charts, 

 and others not laid down at all. Protective commercial 

 regulations established with the Sultan of Sooloo, and a 

 correct chart made of a feasible and short route for pass- 

 ing through those seas towards China, against the N. E. 



The tender Flying Fish, which had accompanied tho 

 squadron during the whole cruise, until reaching Singa- 

 pore, was so much used up by hard service, that it was 

 deemed imprudent to hazard the lives of men and officers 

 in her, for a passage around the Cape at that season, with- 

 out considerable delay for thorough and extensive repairs. 

 She was, therefore, disposed of at that p-)rt, under the di- 

 rection of the American Consul. 

 eighty 

 and shii 

 the different ports and islands of the Pacific 6c 

 /oral of them brought to the United States in the Vin- 

 nncs ; the remainder are on board the brigs Porpoise 



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