OCR Text |
Show TRAVELS THROUGH UPPER CANADA: tion is in every refpetl: pleafing to the eye. From its fianding on a (pot of ground fo much elevated above the level of the water, one would imagine that it muft alfo be a remarkably ht.:althy place, but it is, in f~tc1, lamentably the revcrfe. On arriving at the town, we were obliged tu call at no lefs than four different taverns, before we could procure accommodations, the people at the firfl: places we flopped at being fo Cevcrely affiiC\.ed with the ague, that they could not receive us; and on enquiring, it appeared that there was not a finglc houfe in the whole town but where one or more of the inhabit:mts were labouring under this perplexing diforder; in fome of the houfes entire families were !aid up, and at the fort on the oppofite fide of the river,. the whole of the new garrifon, except a corporal and nine men, was difquali.fied for doing duty. Each individual of our party could not but entertain very ferious apprehenfions for his own health, on arriving at a place where fickne[s was fo general,. but we were a!fured that the danger of catching the diforder was now over; that all thofe who were ill at prefent, had been con~ .fined many weeks before; and that for a fortnight paft not a fingle perfon had been attacked, who had not been ill in the preceding part of the feafon. As a precaution, however, each one of the party took fafting, jn the morning, a glafs of brandy, in which was infufed a teafpoonfull of Peruvian bark. This mixture is deemed, in the country, one of the moft certain preventative11 againft the diforder, and few that take it, in time,. regularly, and avoid the evening dews, fuftcr from it. Not only the town of Niagara and its vicinity are unhealthy places, but almoft every part of Upper Canada, and of the territory of the States bordering upon the Jakes, is likewife unhealthy. The :fickly feafon commences abont the middle of July, and terminates about the :firft week of September, as foon as the nights become cold. Intermittent fever•s arc the mofl: common diforders; but in fome parts of the country the inhabitants fuffer from continual fevers, of which there arc different kinds, peculiar to certain difl:riB:s. In the country, for infiance, bordering HJ on the Genefee River, which falls into Lake Ontario on the fouthern fide, a fever is common amongft the inhabitants of a malignant nature, vulgarly called the Genefee fever, of which many die annually; * and N A V Y H A L L. nd in .that . b~rdering upon the Miami River, which falls into Lake Ene, ~Hhm the north-wefl:ern territory of the United States, a fever of a different kind ' agam· , J·S common. It does not appear that th.c exact nature of tbefe different fevers has ever been accurately afcertaJI1ed. In the back parts of North America, in general, medical men arc rarely t 0 b c met W·i t h , and indeed if they were, the fettlements are fo far re.moved from each other, that they could be of little fervice. It IS very remarkable, that notwithfl:anding that medical affifl:ance is ftJ t'arely to he had in cafe of :ficknefs in the back country, yet the Americans, when they are about to change their place of abode, feldom or ever confuier whether the part of the country to which they are going i~t hca~thy or otherwifc, at leafi: they are fcarcely ever in8uenccd in their choice of a place of relldence either by its hcalthinefs or unhealthinefs ~fthe ~a~lds in one part of the country are fuperior to thoic in anothe; 1111 fertility; if . they arc in the neighbourhood of a nav1· g.a bl e n·v er, or .fituated ~onvemently to. a goo~ market; if they are cheap, and riling in value, thither the Amencan w11l gladly emigrate~ let the climate be ever .fo unfriendly to the human fyfiem. Not a year pa.lfes over, but what numb~ rs of people leave the beautiful and healthy banks of the Sufquehannah ~Iver for the Genefee country, where nine out of every ten of the inhabitants arc regularly :cized, during the autumn, with malignant fevers; but the lands ~ordenng upon the Sufquehannah are in general poor. whereas . thofe m the Genefee country are in many places fo rich, that unttl reduced by fuccefiive crops of Indian corn, wheat, to ufc the common phrafe, " will run wholly to fl:raw :" where it has been fown in the firfr infi:ance, the fl:alks have frequently been found fourteen or fifteen feet in length, two thirds of them lyitlg on the ground. On the margin of Niagara River, about three quarters of a mile fi·om the town, fiands a building called Navy Hall, erected for the accommodation of the naval officers on the lake during the winter feafon, when their velfels are laid up. Oppofite to it there is a fpacious wh.a~J to protect the vcflels from the ice during the winter, and alfo to faCilitate the landing of merchandize when the navigation is open. All cargoes brought 'up the lake, that are defl:ined for Niagara, are landed Q_q 2 here. |