298 TRAVELS THROUGH UPPER CANADA : 
ceding day, we had thick hazy weather, and 
every appearance of the heavens indicated that 
before many hours were over we should have 
to contend with some of those dangerous 
storms that are so frequent on Lake Erie. It 
was not long indeed ere the winds began to 
blow, and the waves to rise in a tremendous 
manner, and we soon became spectators of a 
number of those confused and disgusting scenes 
which a gale of wind never fails to occasion 
in a small vessel crowded with passengers. A 
number of old French ladies, who were going 
to see their grandchildren in Lower Canada, 
and who now for the first time in their lives 
found themselves on the water, occupied the 
cab ft). The hold of the vessel, boarded from 
end to end, and divided simply by a sail sus¬ 
pended from one of the beams, w as filled on 
one side with steerage passengers, amongst 
which were several women and children; and 
on the opposite one with passengers who had 
paid cabin price, but were unable to get any 
better accommodation, amongst which num¬ 
ber was our party. Not including either the 
old ladies in the cabin, or the steerage passen¬ 
gers, we sat dow n to dinner each day, twenty^ 
six in number, which circumstance, when I 
inform you that the vessel was only seventy 
ions burden, will best enable you to conceive 
Ixovr miLiiL/h. we must have been crowded, Ifye 
