69 
Lake, as well as the town of the same name, which is said to be 
extremely pleasantly situated on one of its banks. About nine 
o’clock in the evening we arrived at Auburn, and found good 
accommodations at one of the public houses. This town 
contains upwards of one hundred and fifty houses, a court-house 
and penitentiary, which is said to be managed in a very excel¬ 
lent manner. To my regret I saw none of them; for at four 
o’clock the next morning, 18th of August, we set out in the 
stage-coach for Rochester, distant sixty-nine miles. The villages 
which we passed on our route were, Cayuga, nine miles, Se¬ 
neca Falls, three miles, Waterloo, five miles, Geneva, six 
miles, Canandaigua, sixteen miles, Mendon, fifteen miles, Pitts- 
ford, seven miles, from which latter it was yet eight miles to 
Rochester. 
It was just daylight as we arrived in the vicinity of Cayuga, 
on the lake of the same name, which is about twenty miles long, 
and from one to three wide. This lake empties into the Seneca 
river, which afterwards unites with the Mohawk. We crossed 
the lake not far from its mouth, on a wooden bridge, one mile in 
length, eighteen yards wide, and built in a very rough and care¬ 
less manner: the planks are loose and the chevaux-cle-frise is in 
a bad condition. On the opposite side of the lake is a large toll¬ 
house. At a short distance from this we arrived at Seneca Falls, 
so called in consequence of the little falls of the Seneca river, 
which are close by, and are chiefly formed by a mill-dam. At 
the tavern we met an Indian and his wife, of the Oneida tribe, 
who were going on a visit to the Senecas. We conversed with 
the man, who had been at school, and understood English. He 
told us that he had been raised by a Quaker missionary, and that 
he was a farmer, and concluded by asking for a little money, 
which he probably spent with his ugly wife at the next grog¬ 
shop. 
All the villages through which we passed are quite new, and 
in many places we passed through primitive forests, which, in 
some places, they are just beginning to clear. At Waterloo the 
first house was erected in 1816, and at present it has two churches 
and about three thousand inhabitants. Several of the houses are 
built of brick, and contain well furnished stores. At the tavern 
we saw a large, beautiful young eagle, which had been caught in 
his nest and tamed. The country beyond Waterloo was boggy, 
and the road in some places made of large logs, so that we 
were very disagreeably jolted. Geneva is situated at the north 
point of Seneca Lake, which is between fifty and sixty miles long 
and about five wide. The towm derives its name from its simi¬ 
larity of situation to Geneva in Switzerland. It is also quite new, 
and contains about four thousand inhabitants. It has two churches 
