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Show 308 TRAVELS THROUG II UPPER CAN AD/\~ L E T T E R XXXI. Difcrtf't/on of t!Je Rr've1· and F.t!ls if Niagm·a a11d t!Je Cowzt1y bor .. deriug upon tf.,e Navigabl~.· Plfrt of t !Jr: Ri·vl!r bdo7o I he Falls. Fort Chippcway, September. T the d iil:.mce of ci ~r ht ce n mile fi·om the town o[ Ni1g< r,t or N ch'<\r ... , arc thok r'mark: bk f:tlls in Ni.1o·ara P ivcr, wh'ch 111 y jnfi1y c ranhd ~ mong · lte grcatdl natuu l curio!iti~s in the known ,,.odd. Tit' road leadi1tg from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie ru ns vithin a few .hundred y· rds of them. This road, which is within the Briti1h dominions, .is arri...:d along the top of the lofty fl cp banks of the ri ver; for a confidcrable way it runs clok to their very edge, and in p:-d1in r along it the eye of the tr::tv eller i cntertained with a nricty of the mofl: grand and beautiful profpctls . The river, infl:cad of g rowing narrow as you proceed upward , widens conliderably : at the end of nine or ten miles il expands to the breadth of a mile, anu here it anumes much the :1ppearancc of a lake ; it is enclofcd, fcemingly on all fide s, by high hills, and the current, owing to the great depth of the water, is fo gentle as to be fcarccly perceptible from the to of thl.: ban ks. It continues thus broad for a mile or two, when on a fuddcn the waters arc contraCted between the high hills on each fide. From l11...ncc up to the falls the current is cxceedin ~ ly irregular and rapid. At the upper en of this hroad part of the river, and nearly at the foot of tl e banks, is iituatcd a fmall village, that has be n calkJ ~ce dtown, but which, in the adjacent country, is bdl known by the name of " The Landing." The lake merchant veffels can proceed up to this village with pertcc:t L1fety, and they commonly do fo, to dcpofit, in th fi:orcs th rc, fuch goous as arc intended to be fent higher up the country, and to re civt,; in return the furs, &c. that have been collcB:ccl at the various } ofi:s on I. kcs Hnron and Erie, and fcnt thither to be conveyed down o K' ngfl:on, acrofs Lake Ontario. The portage from this place to ' _. nc,trefl: navigable part of Niagara River, above the falls, is nine miles in length. About |
