DETROIT. 
183 
who spoke English, that their language has 
every where died away. _ 
Detroit contains about three hundred houses* 
and is the largest town in the western country. 
It stands contiguous to the river, on the top of 
the banks, which are here about twenty feet 
high. At the bottom of them there are very 
extensive wharfs for the accommodation of 
the shipping, built of wood, similar to those in 
the Atlantic sea-ports. The town consists of 
several streets that run parallel to the river, 
which are intersected by others at right angles. 
They are all very narrow, and not being paved, 
* dirty in the extreme whenever it happens to 
rain ; for the accommodation of passengers, 
however, there are footways in most of them, 
formed of square fogs, laid transversely close 
to each other. The town is surrounded by 
# a strong stockade, through which there are 
four gates; two of them open to the wharfs; 
and the two others to the north and south side 
4 i 
of the town respectively. The gates are de~ ' 
fended by strong block-houses, and on the west 
side of the town is a small fort in form of a 
square, with bastions at the angles. At each 
of the corners of-this fort, is planted a small 
« 
field-piece; and these constitute the whole of 
the ordnance at present in the place. The 
British kept a considerable train of artillery 
here, but the place was never capable of hold¬ 
ing out for any length of time against a regular 
