OCR Text |
Show TRAVELS THROUGH UPPER CANADA: waters h:lVe encroached, owing to fome unknown caufes, confidcrably and gradually upon the {horcs in f<)me places, anti r ceded in other.·s. Between the fione boufe, in the fort at Niagara, and the Ltke, for mfl:ancc, there is not at prefent a greater fpace than ten yards, or thereabouts; thono-h when firfl: built there was an extenfivc g.trden between b them. A water b;lttery aHo, ereCted fir1cc the commcncemellt of the prcfent war, at the bottom of the bank, beyond the walls of the fort, wa fapped away by the water in the courCe of two feafon s, and now Ccarcely any vcfl:ige fit remain s. At a future day, when the country becomes more populous and more wealthy, perfons will no doubt be found who will have lcifure for making the obfervations nc cfhry for determining whether the lakes do or do not under~ a periodical chnnge, but at prefent the inhabitants on the borders of them are too much engaged in commercial and agricultural purfuits to attend to matters of mere [peculation, which, however they might amufe the philofopher, could be produCtive of no folid advantages to the generality of the in-habitants of the country. It is believed by many perfons that the waters of Lake Ontario not only rife and fall periodically every feventh year, but that they arc lik.ewife in.fl. ucn ced by a tide, which ebbs and flows frequently in the courfe of twenty-four hours. On board the vefid in which I croffed the b.ke there were feveral gentlemen of the country, who confidently affured me, that a regular tide was obfervablc at the Bay of Canti; that in or.· der to f:.1tisfy themfelvcs on the fubjeet, they had ilood for feveral hours together, on more than one occafion, at a mill at the head of the bay, and that they h:u.l obferved the waters to ebb and flow regularly every four hours, rifinb to th~ height of fourteen inches. There c.an be no doubt, however, but that the frequent ebbing and. flowing of the water at this place mufl: be caufed by the wind; for no fuch regular fluctuation is obfervable at Niagara, at Kingfton, or on the open {bores of the lake; and owing to the formation of the Bay of Canti, the height of the water mufl: neceHarily vary there with every flight change of the wind. The Bay of Canti is a long crooked inlet, that grows narrower at the upper nd, like a funnel; not only, therefore>. a change of wind up or down the V 0 Y A G E A C R 0 S S L A K E 0 N T A R I 0. the bay would make a difierence in the height of the w.tter at the uppermoil: extremity of it ; but owing to thl; waters being concen rated there at one point, they would be fcen to riCe or L1ll, if irnpe led even in the f<une direCl:ion, whether up or down the h.1y, more or 1 {s forcibly at one time of the day than at another. ow it is very fcldom .that the wind, at any part of th~ day or night, would be found to blow precifely with the fame force, for a given fpacc of two hours, that it had blown for the preceding fpace of two hours ; an appearance like a tide mufl: therefore be feen almofl: conil:antly at the h ead of this bay whenever there was a breeze. I could not learn that the flutl:u tion had ever been obfe rved during a pcrfccr calm : were t•lc wat r', however, inflncnccd by a regular tide, during a calm the tide woulJ be moil: readily feen. To return to the voyage. A few ho ns after we quitted Kingfion, on the 7th of September, the wind died away, anJ dwinz the whole night the vcffel made but little w~y; early on the morning of the 8th, however, a frdh breeze fprang up, and before noon we lofl: fight of the land. Our voyage now differed in no wife from one acrofs the ocean; the veffel was fteered by the compafs, the log regularly heaved, the way marked down in the log book, and an exact account kept of the procedures on board. We continued f:.ti!ing, out of fight of land, until the evening of the 9th, wh n we had a view of the b u hills in the neighbourhood of Toronto, on the northern fide of the lake, but they foon difappeared. Except at this phce, tlw !horcs of the lake arc flat and [andy, owing to which circu nlbm:c it i;;, that in traverfing the lake you are generally carried out of i1ght o land in a very few hours. At lay break on the 1oth the fort and town f Ni gu·a app ared under th lee bow, and the wind being Ctvourable, we had every profpdt before us of getting up to the town .in a ic v hours,; bu t fcarcely had we reached the bar, at the mouth of Niagara i\ cr, when th~ winl fuddcnly fhiftcd, and after endeavouring in vain to crofs it by 1 1cnns of tackir g, we were under the neceiEty of cafl:ing anchor at the difl:ance of. bout two miles from the fort. Th-.: fort i iecn to gr-.:ttt advantage from the water; but the town being built parallel to he ri er, and no pJrt of it vifihle |