192 MULES. 



these premises we may conclude, that for every boat 

 navigating the grand Erie Canal, there must be ex- 

 pended three hundred and seventy-jive dollars for the 

 subsistence of the horses, each time they tow her from 

 the Lake to the Hudson and back.* Now, if this can 

 be done as effectually by mules for one half this sum, 

 and with an extension of capital free of interest, fifteen 

 years longer than that vested in horses, the aggregate 

 of this immense saving will appear by ascertaining 

 the number of boats at the present time on the canal. 

 But this is out of my power, and I should, perhaps, 

 lead the reader nearer the verge of incredulity, were 

 I to offer my prediction what that number will be 

 thirty years hence, the ordinary period of a mule's 

 labour, and which will then be some years less than a 

 single century since the prime mover and gwai^dian 

 of this stupendous undertaking, the present Governor 

 (De Witt Clinton) of New York, first saw the light 

 of Heaven. 



I cannot resist an impulse to exhibit the mule in one 

 other point of view. For the movement of machinery, 

 the employment of this animal, when judiciously 

 selected, has met with a most decided preference, in 

 comparison with the horse, independent of the eco- 

 nomy in using him. And if we consider the rapid 

 and probably progressive increase of labour-saving 

 machines, in every department where they can be 

 made subservient to the requirements of society, it is 



* This estimate (three hundred and seventy-jive dollars) is the 

 maximum of expense for subsistence and other items, supposing 

 the whole number of horses should be required for one boat ; but 

 they will unquestionably be employed for a succession of other 

 boats. And should all the relays perform a tour on the line every 

 day, the minimum of expense would be seventy-five dollars for each 

 boat. Facts derived from further information may enable us to fix 

 the medium 



