m Detroit. They were chiefly people from the hotter regions of the
States, and resembled each other remarkably; sallow, sharp-angled,
acute-looking physiognomies: the men tall and loosely jointed; the
women prematurely old, and not very handsome. They were quiet and
respectable in their manners and demeanour; in fact, too quiet,
contrasting strongly in this respect with the real, genuine Yankee.

We reached Buffalo at seven in the evening, after encountering a
thunderstorm, which appeared to be very severe towards the shores of
the American side of Lake Erie.

Such a mob as poured on board the vessel, after she had with much
difficulty threaded the inconvenient, narrow, muddy creek on which
Buffalo is located, I never beheld before: blacks and whites, browns
and yellows, cabmen and carters, porters and tavern-scouts,
pickpockets and free and enlightened citizens.

How the passengers got their baggage conveyed to their hotels, or
dwellings, is beyond my art to imagine. Insolent and daring, if these
be a pattern mob, Heaven defend us Britishers from democracy! for
freedom reigns at Buffalo in a pattern of the newest, which the
seldomer copied the better. But one must not judge the money-getting
citizens of this fine town by the scenes in the Wapping part of it;
for, if one did, it would necessarily be said that they were not an
enviable race.

Buffalo, a mere wooden village, burnt during the war of 1812, is now a
large and flourishing city, containing 30,000 inhabitants; and, if it
had a good harbour, would soon rival New York. To prove this, I beg
the reader to take the trouble to peruse the accompanying statement of
the present commerce of that city, from the Buffalo Commercial
Advertiser of January 10, 1846, by which it will be seen that in the
year 1845 the increase of vessels trading with it was enormous, and
that by the Welland Canal, or an American ship canal, round the Falls
of Niagara, they already contemplate a direct trade with Europe in
British bottoms.

"There has been a prodigious accession to the Lake marine during the
past season--no less than sixty vessels, whose aggregate tonnage is
over 13,000 tons, and at an outlay of 825,000 dollars. Had we not the
evidence before us, the assertion would stagger belief.

"More than usual pains were taken by us, during the past season, to
procure information on this head and others touching thereto, the
result of which we now present in our annual list of new ve