owing morning, and the row of twelve miles to
St. Johns was a delightful one. The last lock (the only one at St.
Johns) was passed, and we had a full clearance at the Dominion
custom-house before noon.

We were again on the Richelieu, with about twenty-three miles between us
and the boundary line of the United States and Canada, and with very
little current to impede us. As dusk approached we passed a dismantled
old fort, situated upon an island called Ile aux Noix, and entered a
region inhabited by the large bull-frog, where we camped for the night,
amid the dolorous voices of these choristers. On Saturday, the 18th, at
an early hour, we were pulling for the United States, which was about
six miles from our camping-ground. The Richelieu widened, and we entered
Lake Champlain, passing Fort Montgomery, which is about one thousand
feet south of the boundary line. Champlain has a width of three fourths
of a mile at Fort Montgomery, and at Rouse's Point expands to two miles
and three quarters. The erection of the fort was commenced soon after
1812, but in 1818 the work was suspended, as some one discovered that
the site was in Canada, and the cognomen of Fort Blunder was applied. In
the Webster treaty of 1842, England ceded the ground to the United
States, and Fort Montgomery was finished at a cost of over half a
million of dollars.

At Rouse's Point, which lies on the west shore of Lake Champlain about
one and one-half miles south of its confluence with the Richelieu, the
Mayeta was inspected by the United States custom-house officer, and
nothing contraband being discovered, the little craft was permitted to
continue her voyage.

At the northern end of the harbor of Rouse's Point is the terminus of
the Ogdensburg and the Champlain and St. Lawrence railroads. The Vermont
Central Railroad connects with the above by means of a bridge twenty-two
hundred feet in length, which crosses the lake. Before proceeding
further it may interest the reader of practical mind to know that a very
important movement is on foot to facilitate the navigation of vessels
between the great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, and Champlain, by the
construction of a ship-canal. The Caughnawaga Ship Canal Company,
"incorporated by special act of the Dominion of Parliament of Canada,
12th May, 1870," (capital, three million dollars; shares, one hundred
dollars each,) with a board of directors composed of citizens of the
United States and Canada, has issued i