350 
Tn order to insure extraordinary alert- 
ness and dexterity on the part of the fire- 
men, they ought, as in all other profes- 
sions, to be previously exercised and in- 
structed, and frequently practised in sham 
fires. 
The above observations I do not in- 
tend as a matter of theory, or curious 
speculation, to amuse your readers, but 
as highly deserving of serious attention. 
Innovations in a long-continued practice, 
ought, I acknowledge, to be listened to 
with a cautious ear; but when an obvi- 
ous and incontrovertible i imprevement is 
advised in a matter of such vast import- 
ance, it is a culpable disregard of our 
fellow-creatures, and, in fact, doing them 
an injury, to set it at nought. Ww hat is 
here proposed, is very different from the 
plans and inventions of Dr. Carey, of Is- 
lington, on the same subject, recorded 
also in your number for June, novei and 
untried, laboured and complicated. This 
boasts of no originality or ingenuity, but 
its yood effects are so clear and so obvi 
ous, as to require no argument or ine: 
tration to enforce it, Your’s, &c. 
Bedford-row, W. N. 
19th dugust, 1807. 
—eS ee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
EEING some observations in your 
Magazine respecting stirrup-irons, I 
beg leave to propose to your numerous 
readers, and to makers in particular, 
what I believe to be the “ something 
wanting.” It is simply this:—let the 
sides of the ring come full to the inside at 
the bottom, orlet thespace between the 
bars at bottom come quite up to the 
sides, so as to leave no corners, as it is 
there the edge of the sole of the boot gets 
fast, and prevents the foot of an unhorsed 
man from slipping out. I have used a 
pair made as before directed, for some 
time, both on the road, and in the field, 
and have never fad my foot in the 
least fast. I aiways ride with a full stir- 
rup. The hussar stirrup, and all others 
with no square Corners, are equally safe, 
but sos so pleasant for the feet, and objec- 
tionable for the singularity of the shape. 
The ee I recommend has been univer- 
sally adnuired for its neatness, Any iron 
may be made to answer the purpose by 
fling the space at bottom, up to the sides. 
Should these plain hints meet an early in- 
sertion in your useful Magazine, you will 
much oblige your Correspondent, 
dug. 22, 1807. READINENSIS. 
Improvement in Stirrup Irons. 
( 
[Nov. I 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
OBSERVATIONS made during @ TOUR 
through the UNITED STATES Of AME- 
RICA.—NO, XVIII. 
WN ANY an ardent mind has honestly 
deceived itself into believing, that 
amoung the children of nature (as the 
Indians have been called) weuld be found 
undeviating rectitude and simple honesty: 
that the formation of a settlement in 
their vicinity, would at once gratify all 
the finer feelings of the heart, and the 
necessaries of life. Little acquainted are 
such visionaries with what is experienced 
by first settlers in a wilderness; their 
hardships are immense, and their depriva- 
tions equal their hardships, They must for 
the first year at least, procure salted pro-~ 
vifions; for if the settler acquires food by 
hunting or fishing, his lands must be neg- 
lected ; indeed he must be very industri- 
ous to procure subsistence from his own 
farm the second year, ora small surplus 
for sale in the third. When the first 
settler, (Mr. Williams) fixed himself in 
Trumbull, be was more than one hun- 
dred miles distant from any white inha- 
bitants, from whom he had to purchase 
every thing necessary for the support of 
his family ; out of which no comfort or 
aid could be procured, and by whese as- 
sistance alone the wide road could be 
cut, or the trees felled, which were to en- 
able him to pass the neighbouring rivers, 
To all these evils may be added, that the 
peace of the settler’s family is every hour 
endangered by the cunning persevering 
malice of the Indian; yet, “strange as it 
may seem, many people, and some re- 
spectable ones, prefer this kind of life : 
of this description is General Paine, an 
ancient warrior, who has not unfrequently 
seen the backs of the enemies of the United 
States. When I was at his house, where 
he had been settled about four years, he 
told me “he must go back, for that coun- 
try became too thickly settled for him,” 
then I believe in his sixty-eighth year. 
A few years back, the Indian tribes on 
the borders of the Lake, were truly for- 
midable, they eyed the white man with 
jealousy and distrust, but they turned 
not their heel poneue him. Connected. 
with the Canadian government, they were 
either the open or the gecret enemies of 
the United States. Urged by that go- 
vernment as it is said, and certainly 
aided by white men disguised as Indians ; 
many of the tribes dared tc’ wage open 
“Wak 
