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Show .. p .S TRAVELS THROUGH UPP • R CANADA: the . nd of a few ye1 ·s no vdlige of the woods wou d hi.; found on thefc trac s, any more than if they had been confnmed by ~rc. . .. It appears to me, however, tlut there is more wet rrht ~n the op11110n of thofc, who afcribc the ddici ncy of tree on the platns to the unfricndli; 1cfs of the f(:Jil; for the earth towards the furfacc is univ r.f.'llly ·cry light, and of a d 'CP bbck olour, and on digging but a ~cw inches downwards you comt; to a cold fliff cby. On Long IO.wu, m the fiatc of New York, p1ains :uc met wi h nearly fi.milar t ·> thcfc in thL: b.tcl country, and the Dutch fanmrs~ \"ho luve m. de repc,lted t_riab of tl~ e foil, find that it ,.,·ill not proJuce wh.:at r any other gralll, and, Ill fhort, nothing that i at all profitable e.Accpt coade grafs. I mak~ no doubt but that whenever a fimila r trial comes to be made of the foil of the plains to the w f1 ward, it will be follnd equally incapabl' of producin6 any thing but what it docs at prefcnt. A tcr having pafi~d over a great number of thc[l! plains of different fizcs, we entered once mote into the thick woods; but the country here ap1 c 1red much more divtrflfied with ri11ng grounds than it was in any part we had al re:tdy tr.wede . A we were afccnding to the top oC a iinall eminence in the thickefi part of thefl: woods, towards the clofc of our fccolld day's journey, our Indian chief, Cbma-!Jrt'r!fi-p!att!, who received that name in <.onf ·'lLH.:nce f his having worn in the American war a thicl chin::t difh as an ornament on hi brcarl, made a fibn tv us to follow him to the left f the path. We did fo, and having procc 'dcd for a few yards, fudJcnly founu ourfclves on the margin of a tkcp extcnfive pit, not unlike an exhaurlc l quarry, that h .td lain neglcc ed for many years. The area of it contained about two acres, and it approached to a circular form; the fides were xtrcmcly Il:ecp, and f·cmed in no place to be Ids than forty feet high; in fomc parts they were con- 1iderably higher. Ncar the center of the place was a large pond, and round the edges of it, as well as rour:d the bottom of the pre ipicc, grew fcvcral very lofty pines. The walls of the precipic con!ifl d of a whiti!h fubftance not unlik limc-O:one half calcineJ, and round the margin of the pit, at top, lay feveral heaps of loofe matter rcfcmbling limc-1 ubbiih. China-breajl-jJ!ate, ftanding on the brink of the prcctpicc, began J 0 U R N E Y T II R 0 U G II T II E W 0 0 D S. began to tell us a long fl:o ry, and pointing to a difl:ant place beyond it, frequently mentioned the word Niagara. Whether, howc\'cr, the fiory rebtcd to the pit, or whether it rcbtt:d to the Falls o ·Niagara, the fmok"" at ifing from which it i by no means improb.lb e might be fccn, at times, from the elevated fpot where we flood, or whether the flory n.l.Hcd to both, we coul! in no way learn, as we''· crL: tot lly unacquainted with the SL'ncka language, an I he was ne.u·Jy cqt1aJly ioncrant of the Englifh. I never met with any pcrf(J11 aftet w:uds who h.td fcen this place, or who I· new any th ing relating to it. T wu:;h we tna(k rc.:pcatcLl figns t Cbina-brcajl-plntc that we did not und ·dlrtn hi. flory, he flill e•1t 0 '1 with it frJr ncar a quarter of an hq 1r; the other Indians lifl:encd to it with great attention, and fecmed t t.1ke no imall intercfl: in wh:tt he f.{id . I lhould hav,, mentioned to you before, that both the Tndi.lns and the white Aml r! ·a 1s pronounce the word Nia<~,lr<l clifETcntly j~·om w h lt we do. The fanne r lay the accent on the feco 1d fyllabk and pro;wunc~ the word full and broad as if written Nee-a w >·- , ra. The Americans likewik lay the :1cccnt on the fecond fyll.1hlc; but pronounce it l1wrt, and give the Cunc found to the 1 ·ttcn I a1Hl A as '·c do. Ni .lbar<l, in the language of the neighbouring Indians, figniucs a mighty rufhtll;,; or fall of water. On the fccond ev ning of our expedition we encamp ·tl on a iinall hill, from whofe top there was a mojl plcaflng ronJ<tntic view, alon~ a firc:un of confidcrahlc fizc which wound round its bafc, and a f:1r as our eyes coq]d reach, appt::arcd tumbling in (mall fillls over ledges of rocks. A fire.: bei.1g kin llcd , and the tent pitched as ufua l, the Indians fitt do vn to cook fame fq,tirrl ls which we had killcLI on tbc borders of the p!ams. 1 hefc anilllals the Indi-1ns had obfcrvcd, as we came along, n the top of a larg hollow tree; they jmmediately la icl down their loads, and each taking out his tomahawk , and fc l til1'r to work at a different part of the tree, it W<lS felled d wn in lcfs tha 1 five minutes, and fuch qf the fquirrds as cfcaped their dogs we rcauily £hot for them. The |