73 
tiful petrifactions, and other remarkable minerals; for example, 
strontian , and beautiful transparent gypsum . I saw a large 
petrified tree, and a handsome petrified sea-coral. 
At Lockport we took a dearborn for Buffalo, where we were 
anxious to go, in order to see the union of the canal with Lake 
Erie. Though a good stage runs between Lockport and the 
Falls of Niagara, we went in this bad vehicle five miles, to the 
navigable part of the canal. The road led through the forest, 
the trees of which had been felled along the canal, and passed 
over the stumps, so that it was uncommonly rough, especially as 
it had rained the day before. Arrived at length at the navigable 
part of the canal, we took passage on board a rather bad boat, 
where nothing was to be had but the common cordial, whiskey. 
The village where we went on board, is called Cottensburgh, 
and is quite a new settlement. At this place also the canal is cut 
through rocks to the depth of about thirty feet. About two or 
three miles farther on, it terminates in the Tonnawanta Creek, 
which serves as a canal for twelve miles. This creek has scarcely 
any outlet, so that when it rises much, they are obliged to pro¬ 
tect the canal by means of safety-locks near its union with the 
creek. At the outlet of the creek into the Niagara is a sluice for 
the purpose of keeping the water always at a certain height. The 
creek itself is about fifty yards wide, and runs through a dense 
and beautiful forest, which has never been touched by the axe, 
except along the canal, where they have been obliged to make a 
tow-path. I sat in the bow of the boat during the whole passage. 
Nothing interrupted the solemn silence, except the chattering of 
the boatmen’s teeth, who are often severely affected in this un¬ 
healthy part of the country, with the intermittent fever. Another 
small river, called Eleven-mile Creek, unites with the main 
river, and not far from this junction was the site for the new 
town of Tonnawanta. A few small houses and a saw-mill were 
already erected; the inhabitants appeared also to suffer much from 
the intermittent fever. Here the Tonnawanta Creek, unites 
with the Niagara, where the sluice which we have just mention¬ 
ed leads off. At this place also we had the first view of the 
Niagara river, which conveys the waters of Lake Erie into 
Lake Ontario, from the other extremity of which flows the St. 
Lawrence. In the river we observed Grand Island, which 
contains about one thousand one hundred acres, is overgrown with 
timber, and belongs to a New York editor, Moses Mordecai Noah, 
a Jew, who purchased it for the purpose of establishing a Jew¬ 
ish colony. The soil is very good; during the late war between 
England and the United States, the Niagara, it is well known, 
formed the boundary line between them and the British provinces 
of Upper Canada, and this island bore testimony of the bloody con- 
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