FORT GALETTE. 
49 
time, to discharge the cargoes there, brought 
down from the upper country. As therefore 
the harbour at the mouth of Oswegatchee is 
so much better than that at the mouth of 
Oswego River, and as they are nearly an equal 
distance from New York, there is reason to 
suppose, that if the river navigation should 
prove equally good, the trade between the 
lakes and New York will be for the most 
part, if not wholly, carried on by means of 
Oswegatchee rather than of Oswego River. 
With a fair wind, the passage from Oswe¬ 
gatchee River to Niagara is accomplished in 
two days ; a voyage only one day longer than 
that from Oswego to Niagara with a fair 
wind. 
Fort de la Galette was erected by the 
French, and though not built till long after 
Fort Cataraguis or Frontignac, now Kingston, 
yet they esteemed it by far the most important 
military post on the St. Lawrence, in the upper 
country, as it was impossible for any boat or 
vessel to pass up or down that river without 
being observed; whereas they might easily 
escape unseen behind the many islands op¬ 
posite to Kingston. Since the close of the 
American war. Fort de la Galette... 
dismantled, as it was within the territory 
the United States : nor would any advantage 
have arisen from its retention^* for it was never 
VOL, II, 
E 
