NIAGARA FALLS. 
IQ9 
for a mile or two, when on a sudden the 
waters are contracted between the high hills 
on each side. From hence up to the falls the 
current is exceedingly irregular and rapid At 
the upper end of this broad part of the river, 
and nearly at the foot of the banks, is situated 
a small village, that has been called Queens¬ 
town, but which, in the adjacent country, is 
best known by the name of “ The Landing/* 
The lake merchant vessels can proceed up to 
this village with perfect safety, and they com¬ 
monly do so, to deposit, in the stores there, 
such goods as are intended to be sent higher 
up the country, and to receive in return the 
furs, &c. that have been collected at the various 
posts on lakes Huron and Eric, and sent thither 
to be conveyed down to Kingston, across Lake 
Ontario. The portage from this place to the 
nearest navigable part of Niagara River, above 
the Falls, is nine miles in length. 
About half way up the banks, at the distance 
of a few hundred yards from Queenstown, 
there is a very extensive range of wooden bar¬ 
racks, which, when viewed a little way off, 
appears to great advantage; these barracks are 
now quite unoccupied, and it is not probable 
that they will ever be used until the climate 
improves: the first troops that were lodged in 
them, sickened in a very few days after their 
arrival; many of the men died, and had not 
