'188 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA : 
as it is now called,, are increasing very fast in 
population, as I before mentioned, owing to 
the great emigration thither of people from 
the neighbourhood of Niagara, and of Detroit 
also since it has been evacuated by the British. 
We made an excursion, one morning, in our 
little boat, as far as Lake St. Clair, but met 
with nothing, either amongst the inhabitants 
or in the face of the country, particularly de¬ 
serving of mention. The country round De¬ 
troit is uncommonly fiat, and in none of the 
rivers is there a fall sufficient to turn even a 
grist mill. The current of Detroit River 
itself is stronger than that of any others, and 
a floating mill was once invented by a French*- 
man, which was chained in the middle of that 
river, where it was thought the stream would 
be sufficiently swift to turn the water wheel: 
the building of it was attended with consider¬ 
able expence to the inhabitants, but after it 
was finished, it by no means answered their 
expectations. They grind their corn at pre¬ 
sent by wind mills, which I do not remem¬ 
ber to have seen in any other part of North 
America. 
The soil of the country bordering upon De¬ 
troit . River is rich though light, and it pro¬ 
duces good crops both of Indian corn and 
wheat.. The climate is much more healthy 
than that of the country in the neighbourhood 
