ns burden each. I was surprised to find what a
preserving effect the lake water had upon the timber, the wood being
almost black in colour, and so hard that it was difficult to make an
impression upon it even with an axe. These vessels had been sold to a
shipping company, and were at the time employed, I think, in the Chicago
or Upper Lake trade.

I had frequently heard of the number of rattle and other snakes to be
met with on the banks of the lake, but these have been nearly
exterminated by the settlers. During my stay in the suburbs I only found
a few water-snakes, basking in the sun amongst the wilderness of
aquatic plants that cover the surface of the water in the creeks.

The superstitious dread of inhaling the east wind blowing from the mouth
of the lake, is now exploded, and is considered in the light of a
by-gone tale; although, for three-quarters of a century, it was
considered baneful even to the healthy. Consumptive patients are,
however, soon carried off, the biting blasts from the Canadian shores
proving very fatal in pulmonary complaints, and the winters being very
severe.

A plentiful supply of excellent fish of various sorts, is procured from
the lake. These are salted in barrels, and find a ready market in the
northern and eastern states.

My abode in the city of Buffalo extended over the greater part of a
year, and during this period I had frequent opportunities of witnessing
that tendency to overreach that has, perhaps, with some justice, been
called a disposition in the generality of Americans to defraud. I do not
mean to stygmatize any particular class of men in this imputation, but I
must record my decided conviction, arising from transactions with them,
that business with the mass of citizens there is not that upright system
that obtains with such successful results in the mother country, amongst
those engaged in commercial relations. Perhaps it would be but fair to
make some excuse for men of this class, in a country whose heterogeneous
population, and consequent exposure to competition, renders it a
struggle to obtain a livelihood. It is notorious that thousands of men
in America are obliged, as it were, to succumb to this influence or
become paupers, and are thus driven out of the paths of strict rectitude
and honesty of purpose, and compelled to resort to all sorts of
chicanery to enable them to make two ends meet. In no instance is this
more observable than in the "selling" propensities