eared to have rendered her a Niobe, for
she was tall and as straight as a poplar-tree, and much of the colour
of its inner rind. Oh! the heat, the intolerable heat, on Lake Erie
that night! The worthy captain declared he had never experienced its
like, and that as for rest it was impracticable. If the lady's-maid,
or "the lady that helped" in the ladies' cabin, as she is called in
American boats, kept her stays on that night, Heaven help her! She
must have been in a greater state of despair than the man in armour
on Lord Mayor's day, who requires to go to bed after a warm bath, the
moment he takes his stays off.

But we steamed on, and the boilers themselves were not a whit hotter
than we were. How the stokers stood it is a marvel to this day. I
suffered dreadfully with the prickly heat, as if in the West Indies.

The Thames is the most splendid boat on Lake Erie, and that is saying
a good deal; for the Americans have so many, and several so much
larger than this Britisher, that it is a matter of surprise that she
should beat them all in convenience, build, and speed; and yet,
according to received opinion, the Yankee builders of vessels excel us
"by a long chalk," to use a Yankee figure of speech. It is so,
however, and is so acknowledged on both sides of the water, that the
Thames, Captain Van Allan, takes the shine out of them all.

We started from Amherstburgh, where she called on her way from
Detroit, and left Bullock's inn for the steamer which was close at
hand, at nine o'clock p.m., and got under steam and travelled all
night at a most rapid rate, nor stopped until eight a.m., the next
morning, at Port Stanley, formerly called Kettle Creek, a small
village with a fine parallel pier harbour, which, unlike Amherstburgh,
has thriven amazingly during the past seven years, before which I
recollect it to have consisted of about three or four houses. It is
now a thriving village; and, as it has a planked road reaching far
into the interior, is every day going ahead. The plank road leads to
London, twenty-six miles distant. The piers of this artificial harbour
are much too narrow, consequently it is dangerous to approach in
stormy weather; and, as Lake Erie is a very turbulent little ocean,
they must be modified some day or other, whenever the Board of Works
is rich enough.

We took in several passengers here, mostly Americans touring, and the
vessel was now full, for we had a large proportion of the same class
fro