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Show TRAVELS TIIROU .. II UPPJ!R CANADA: t 11 e wa tet .. Of tl ·c }a1·ror e fifhcs, , the fiurr~r., con i · the on. e mofl: com. - monly met with, and it is not only fonnd in Lake_ Ot~tano,. but alfo ,1n the other lakes that have no immediate communJ catt.on Wtt~ _the fca. The fimgcon caught in the bkes is valuable for its 01l, but 1t IS. not. a we It fl avoLlJ .c · d fj1 (} 1 ,. 1· ndc"-. 'cl ' the fiurob- con found north of James Rtver m Vir rrinia is in gen ral very indifferent, and feldom or never eate_n. 0 iagan Rivcr runs near1y in a due fonth direCtion, and fall mto Lake 0 t·lrio on the fouthern fhore, about thirty miles to the eafl:ward of the 11 • • d . wcficrn extremity of the l.1kc. 1 t is about three hundred yards WI eat 1ts months and is by far the largc!l: body of water flowing into Lak~ On- . On the eafl:ern fi e of the river is fituated the fort, now 111 the tano. B · '(} poffi·flion of the people f the States, and on the oppofit: ot: rltt l J1de the tovm, mofl: generally known by the name of N 1aga1 a, notwithfl: anding that it has been named Newark by the legiflature. The original name of the town was Niagara, it was afterwards called Lenox, tht:n Naffau, and afterwards N cwark. It is to be lamented that the Indian names, fo grand and fonorous, fhould ever h~ve been change_d f. 1 N ·k J(1' or ot 1ers. ewar , 11g1t1L on , York , are poor fubfbtutes for the on~ ginal names of thefe refpcCl:ive places, Niaga_ra, ~adaragui,. Toronto. The town of Nia rrara hitherto ha b en, and JS fbll the capital of the province of u1 pe; Canada; order·, however, had been iffued, before our arrival there, for the removal of the feat of government from t_hence to Toronto, whi ·h was deemed a more eligible fput for the mectmg of th legif1ativc bodie , as being farther removed from the fro_ntiers of the United tates. This pr jetted change is hy no means rcltn1ed by the people at brge, as N1· agara 1· s a much more conven·i ent p1a ce o f r cfort to moil: of them than TorolltO; and as the governor who propofed the tneafure has been removed, it is imagined that it will not be put in execution. The removal of the feat of governm nt from Niagara to Toronto, according to the plan laid down, was only to have been a preparatory fiep to another alteration: a new city, to have been named London, was to I ave been built on the rivt:r formerly call d La Trencbe, but fince called the Thames, a river running into Lake St. lair, and here the feat of government was ultimately to have been fixed. The (pot marked out for the fcite of the city po1k11cs many lo al advantage · It N' I A G A R A. It .is fituat d in a T1ealthy fertile country, on a fine nwigab c river, in :1 ccntrJl part of the province, fi·om whence the watLr communication ~~ c 'tcnfivc in every direCtion. A few fcttlcments have already bce1 wack on the banks of the river, and the tide of cmirrration i., fl:ttino- in b b ll:rongly towards that quarter; a.t a future day, therefor , it is by no means improbable but tb;Jt this fpot may be deemed an cligib one for the capital of the country; but to remove the L:at of gov rnmcnt immediately to a place little better than a wildcrnefs, and io :f:u· from the populous parts of the province, would be a meafure fraught with numberlcfs inconveniencies to the public, and produtl.ivc apparently of no dfcntial advantages whatfoever. The town of Niagara contains about feventy houfes, a court houfe, gaol, and a building intended for the accommodation of the lcgifbtive hodies. The hou[es, with a few exceptions, are built of wood; thofc next the lake are rather poor, but at the upper end of the town there ar fcveral very excellent dwellings, inhabited by the principal of11cers of government. Moil: of the o-entlemcn in official ihtions in Upper Canada arc Engliilimcn of cducati n, a circum.fi:ancc which mu.fi: render the focicty of the capital agreeable, let it be fixed where it will. Few places in North America can boafl: of a more rapid rife than the little town of Niagara, nearly every one of its houfcs having been built within the la.fi: five years: it is fiill advancing mofi rapidly in fize, owing to the increafe of the back country trade along the D1ores of tl e upper lakes, ,.vhieh is all c.trr icd on through the place, and alr owing to the wondci:ful cmi ration·, into the n,_;ighbourhood, of people from the s~atcs. The motives which lead the citizens of the United States to emigrate to the Britin1 domi nions have al.ready been explained. So fuddcn and fa great has the inJlu 'of people, in to the town ofNia! rara anJ its vtcinity, been, that town lots, harks, provifion , and every nccctbry of life have r.ifcn, within the lafl: three years, nearly fifty per cent. in valu • The banks of the River Ni.t ~al'.l are fl:c~..p and lofty, a nd on the top, ~ ' at cacl fide of the river, n.r ex ~nfi ve plain s. The town fl.ands on th ~ fummit of the wefiern Lank, abou t fifty yards from thi.! wat r'& ~.?Jge . It commands a fine view of the Jal·c and di!bnt i110rcs, and it~ i1ma .. Q_ q t i( 11 |
