he rising
importance of these Lakes as connected with the West. Since the
completion of the Ohio Canal, which enters the Lake Erie at Cleveland,
that town has risen almost as rapidly as Buffalo. It is beautifully
situated. It is about six years back that it may be said to have
commenced its start, and it now contains more than ten thousand
inhabitants. The buildings are upon the same scale as those of Buffalo,
and it is conjectured with good reason, that it will become even a
larger city than the other, as the ice breaks up here and the navigation
is open in the spring, six weeks sooner than it is at Buffalo; abreast
of which town the ice is driven down and collected, previous to its
forcing its passage over the falls.

Erie, which was the American naval depot during the war, has a fine bay,
but it is now falling into insignificance: it has a population of about
one thousand.

Sandusky is a fast-rising town, beautifully situated upon the verge of a
small prairie; it is between Sandusky and Huron that the prairie lands
commence. The bay of Sandusky is very picturesque, being studded with
small verdant islands. On one of these are buried in the same grave all
those who fell in the hard-fought battle of the Lakes, between Perry and
Barclay, both of whom have since followed their companions.

Toledo is the next town of consequence on the Lake. It is situated at
the mouth of the Miami River; and as a railroad has already been
commenced across the isthmus, so as to avoid going round the whole
peninsula of Michigan, it is fast rising into importance. Three years
ago the land was purchased at a dollar and a-half per acre; now, it is
selling for building lots at one hundred dollars per foot. They handed
me a paper printed in this town called "The Toledo Blade;" a not
inappropriate title, though rather a bold one for an editor to write up
to, as his writings ought to be very _sharp_, and, at the same time,
extremely _well-tempered_.

The American government have paid every attention to their inland
waters. The harbours, light-houses, piers, etcetera, have all been
built at the expense of government, and every precaution has been taken
to make the navigation of the Lakes as safe as possible.

In speaking of the new towns rising so fast in America, I wish the
reader to understand that, if he compares them with the country towns of
the same population in England, he will not do them. In the smaller
towns of England