Wacousta | Page 5

picture of the
country in which our scene of action is more immediately laid, by
commencing at those extreme and remote points of our Canadian
possessions to which their attention will be especially directed in the
course of our narrative.
The most distant of the north-western settlements of America is
Michilimackinac, a name given by the Indians, and preserved by the
Americans, who possess the fort even to this hour. It is situated at the
head of the Lakes Michigan and Huron, and adjacent to the Island of St.
Joseph's, where, since the existence of the United States as an
independent republic, an English garrison has been maintained, with a
view of keeping the original fortress in check. From the lakes above
mentioned we descend into the River Sinclair, which, in turn,
disembogues itself into the lake of the same name. This again renders
tribute to the Detroit, a broad majestic river, not less than a mile in
breadth at its source, and progressively widening towards its mouth
until it is finally lost in the beautiful Lake Erie, computed at about one
hundred and sixty miles in circumference. From the embouchure of this
latter lake commences the Chippawa, better known in Europe from the
celebrity of its stupendous falls of Niagara, which form an impassable

barrier to the seaman, and, for a short space, sever the otherwise
uninterrupted chain connecting the remote fortresses we have described
with the Atlantic. At a distance of a few miles from the falls, the
Chippawa finally empties itself into the Ontario, the most splendid of
the gorgeous American lakes, on the bright bosom of which, during the
late war, frigates, seventy-fours, and even a ship of one hundred and
twelve guns, manned by a crew of one thousand men, reflected the
proud pennants of England! At the opposite extremity of this
magnificent and sea-like lake, which is upwards of two hundred miles
in circumference, the far-famed St. Lawrence takes her source; and
after passing through a vast tract of country, whose elevated banks bear
every trace of fertility and cultivation, connects itself with the Lake
Champlain, celebrated, as well as Erie, for a signal defeat of our flotilla
during the late contest with the Americans. Pushing her bold waters
through this somewhat inferior lake, the St. Lawrence pursues her
course seaward with impetuosity, until arrested near La Chine by
rock-studded shallows, which produce those strong currents and eddies,
the dangers of which are so beautifully expressed in the Canadian Boat
Song,--a composition that has rendered the "rapids" almost as familiar
to the imagination of the European as the falls of Niagara themselves.
Beyond La Chine the St. Lawrence gradually unfolds herself into
greater majesty and expanse, and rolling past the busy commercial
town of Montreal, is once more increased in volume by the
insignificant lake of St. Peter's, nearly opposite to the settlement of
Three Rivers, midway between Montreal and Quebec. From thence she
pursues her course unfed, except by a few inferior streams, and
gradually widens as she rolls past the capital of the Canadas, whose tall
and precipitous battlements, bristled with cannon, and frowning
defiance from the clouds in which they appear half imbedded, might be
taken by the imaginative enthusiast for the strong tower of the Spirit of
those stupendous scenes. From this point the St. Lawrence increases in
expanse, until, at length, after traversing a country where the traces of
civilisation become gradually less and less visible, she finally merges
in the gulf, from the centre of which the shores on either hand are often
invisible to the naked eye; and in this manner is it imperceptibly lost in
that misty ocean, so dangerous to mariners from its deceptive and
almost perpetual fogs.

In following the links of this extensive chain of lakes and rivers, it must
be borne in recollection, that, proceeding seaward from
Michilimackinac and its contiguous district, all that tract of country
which lies to the right constitutes what is now known as the United
States of America, and all on the left the two provinces of Upper and
Lower Canada, tributary to the English government, subject to the
English laws, and garrisoned by English troops. The several forts and
harbours established along the left bank of the St. Lawrence, and
throughout that portion of our possessions which is known as Lower
Canada, are necessarily, from the improved condition and more
numerous population of that province, on a larger scale and of better
appointment; but in Upper Canada, where the traces of civilisation are
less evident throughout, and become gradually more faint as we
advance westward, the fortresses and harbours bear the same
proportion In strength and extent to the scantiness of the population
they are erected to protect. Even at the present day, along that line of
remote