73 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADAt 
Lakes Huron and Erie, may come down to 
the eastern extremity of the latter lake in six 
days. 
Not only the building and fitting out of 
vessels on the lakes is attended with consider¬ 
able expence, but the cost of keeping them up 
is likewise* found to be very great, for they 
wear out much sooner thaa vessels employed 
commonly on the ocean; which circumstance, 
according to the opinion of the naval gentle¬ 
men on the lakes, is owing to the freshness of 
the water; added to this, no sailors are to be 
hired but at very high wages, and it is found 
necessary to retain them at full pay during the 
five months of the year that the vessels are 
laid up on account of the ice, as men cannot 
be procured at a moment's notice. The sailors, 
with a few exceptions only, are procured from 
sea ports, as it is absolute!y necessary on these 
lakes, the navigation of which is more dan¬ 
gerous than that of the ocean, to have able 
and experienced seamen. Lake Ontario itself 
is never frozen out of sight of land, but its 
rivers and harbours are regularly blocked up 
by the ice. 
The day after that on which we reached 
Kingston, we took our passage for Niagara on 
board a schooner of one hundred and eighty 
tons burthen, which was waiting at the mer¬ 
chant’s wharf for a fair wind, The establish- 
