March, and our baggage and stores
were instantly passed through the Custom-House without inspection. Cards
of admission to the Public Scientific Institutions were forwarded to us
the same evening, and during our stay every other mark of attention was
shown by the civil and naval authorities, as well as by private
individuals, indicating the lively interest which they took in our
enterprise.

James Buchanan, Esq., the British Consul, in addition to many other
attentions, kindly undertook to accommodate a journey he had to make to
Upper Canada, so as to accompany us through the State of New York. After
a stay of eight days in the city, for the purpose of obtaining the rates
of the chronometers, and for making some other observations with Meyer's
dipping needle, we embarked under the Consul's guidance, in the
steam-boat Olive Branch, and ascended the Hudson River, to Albany, where
we experienced similar civilities to those we had received at New York.
Every body seemed to desire our success, and a fervent prayer for our
preservation and welfare was offered up by the Reverend Dr. Christie,
the minister of the church that we attended. The Honourable De Witt
Clinton, the Governor of the State, assured me, that had we not been
accompanied by a gentleman so conversant in the different routes and
modes of travelling as Mr. Buchanan, he would have sent his son with us,
or would himself have conducted us to the confines of the State.

From Albany, we travelled through Utica, Rochester, and Geneva, to
Leweston, in coaches, with more or less rapidity, according to the
condition of the roads; and, crossing the river Niagara, entered Canada,
and visited the Falls so justly celebrated as the first in the world for
grandeur. We next crossed Lake Ontario in a sailing boat, and came to
York the capital of Upper Canada, where we were kindly received by the
Lieutenant-Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland, and by Colonel Cockburn and
the Commissioners then employed on an inquiry respecting the value of
the Crown Lands. From York we passed on to Lake Simcoe, in carts and
other conveyances, halting for a night at the hospitable house of Mr.
Robinson of Newmarket. We crossed Lake Simcoe in canoes and boats, and
landed near the upper part of Kempenfeldt Bay, but not without being
obliged to break our way through the ice for a short distance. A journey
of nine miles, performed on foot, brought us to the River Nattawassaga,
which we descended in a bo