The people on the lower part of this river are Dutch, the upper part Germans; they all seem a very improvident race. They have paid little or no attention to the high lands, but seemed perfectly satisfied with using the intervals, which are rich and very easy of culture. The New England people have lately purchased the high lands, and are settling fast on them. One of the old German inhabitants informed me that the New England settlers had better farms in four or five years than they had in seventy; and if money was wanted, it could be found with more ease among the new than among the old settlers. About the falls there is considerable white oak timber and white pine. The Mohawk river is here much reduced in size, little more than one hundred feet wide. We lodged seven miles from the falls.

Tuesday, May 14. We left Fort Herkimer about eight o'clock in the morning, and reached that evening new Fort Schuyler. A great proportion of the way we found that on the borders of the river there is a tract of valuable interval lands. That so much spoken of, the German Flats, is about three miles in length and one mile in breadth. Although the river is here much reduced in size, yet it retains its common depth. At Fort Schuyler we found another bridge thrown across the river, which is here about one hundred and twenty feet wide when the waters are within the banks. The workmanship of the bridge does great credit to the ingenuity of the workman, as the arch extends from shore to shore. At this place commences Whitestown, so called, which lies generally back from the river about four miles. This flourishing settlement has sprung up since the war, and is become so extensive that on ten miles square are two regiments of militia.

Wednesday, May 15. We left Fort Schuyler for Fort Stanwix in the morning. We found, as before, on the border of the river a large quantity of interval lands, annually washed by the water overflowing the banks of the river on the breaking up of winter. of winter. These lands are excellent for Indian corn and mowing, but will not do for wheat. On them now is a very heavy growth of timber. Among it is the button-wood, of a very extraordinary size; as also the elm. About eight o'clock in the evening we arrived at the head of navigation of the Mohawk river, at the place where the boats are taken out of the water and carried across about two miles into Wood Creek.

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Thursday, May 16, Was spent in carrying our boats and stores from the Mohawk to Wood Creek. This gave an opportunity for us to view the grounds about us. The first thing which caught our attention was old Fort Stanwix, the foundation of which was laid in the year 1759 by General Broadstreet, and built upon by the troops of the United States during the late war. An attempt was made by the British to take this fort in the year 1777; but the enemy were soon convinced that no successful approaches could be made, and that nothing but a warm bombardment could force the besieged to a surrender. A little distance from this fort, General Herkimer, going to the relief of it, fell into an ambuscade of Indians and others. The Indians, it is said, were hardly persuaded to engage, and could not be induced to it until they had sacrificed their reason to their appetites. It was very manifest that during the action they were exceedingly intoxicated. In consequence thereof they suffered greatly in this action, more severely than they ever suffered before. They lost, among others, ten or twelve of their chiefs or first characters. The enemy however kept the field, and had the honors of the day. In the late cultivation of the grounds on which the battle was fought, many parts of the remains of those who fell in the action have been found. In some instances the mark of the scalping-knife and the tomahawk are seen on the skull-bone. Sad to relate, that those who were made to enjoy and to communicate happiness should adopt a line of conduct so opposite to both! The lands about Fort Stanwix, now Fort Schuyler, are but indifferent; and I do not see any thing very alluring in this neighborhood. At this place a canal is to be cut into Wood Creek from the Mohawk, and a town is to be established here, from an idea that advantages will be derived to the settlers from the canal. But if individuals are to be supported here without labor, from the profits of this passage, the whole will fall on those who are obliged to use it.

May 17. Our boats and stores being all in Wood Creek, which at the head is little more than the width of a boat, and very little water running in it, being ponded above, for the use of mills,-when we were ready to go down, the gates were hoisted, and the creek was soon so full of water as to float the boats. We went down with the current, which would have been very agreeable, had not the creek been very

full of timber, which had from time to time fallen into it. There are considerable lands on each side this river which are interval, and are often, in the spring, overflowed. They are too low for farms, and can be improved for certain purposes only. If there are lands near, on which you could build with propriety, these would exceedingly come in aid to such high lands. The lands are very similar the whole of the distance we passed this day, covered with a heavy growth. We encamped at night, for the first time, at what is called the Oak Orchard, from its being a high point of land on which are a few oaks. Oaks are not to be seen in general in this part of the country.

May 18. We continued our passage down the river, and about two o'clock reached the Oneida lake. Here we encamped, as the wind was not only against us, but too high to permit our crossing. In the afternoon, towards evening, the Rev. Mr. Kirkland and several of the Indians came to see us, and to express their satisfaction in our attempts to a general peace. In the evening, the wind having abated, we went about nine o'clock into our boats, and reached the west end of the lake, Fort Bruington, about five o'clock in the morning, having halted on our passage about two hours. It is said that the lake is thirty-five miles long; I think not so much. As we passed it in the night, I could not make any judgment respecting the value of the lands on its borders.

May 19. After breakfast, we left Fort Bruington, and fell down a very pleasant river, about one hundred yards wide, to Three River Point, where we dined; then proceeded down to Oswego falls, twelve miles from the lake; here we lodged. The lands on both banks of the river are low, and the timber not very large. How they will appear when cleared, is quite uncertain; I think, however, not very well. There are a few settlements made on the banks of the river, but are so very new that it cannot be determined at present of what value they are. The place called the Three Rivers is where the Onondago river unites with the Oneida river. Up the Onondago, about eighteen miles, are excellent salt-springs, which are so fully impregnated, that one man, having his wood brought him, will make six bushels a day. I saw some of the salt, which appeared like the white Lisbon. These springs are very important to this country. Thus we see that the benevolent Creator of the world has provided in the

centre of a country, large sources of water which yields that salt so necessary to the happiness and existence of his crea

tures.

May 20. In the morning we hauled our batteaux across the carrying-place, about one hundred and fifty feet. This we did by placing the boats on rollers, without taking out the lading. This business was completed about ten o'clock; we then set off for Oswego, lat. 43° 17', the distance of twelve miles, where we arrived about one o'clock. I had a letter to the commanding officer, which on landing I immediately sent to him in the fort. He came out, and invited me and our party into it, where we dined, and were treated by him (Captain Whickham) with ease and hospitality. We left the fort about four o'clock, went on about fifteen miles, and encamped at a small harbor, called Little Sodus. We expected to have met a vessel at Oswego; but on the arrival of the other Commissioners at Niagara, there was none in the harbor. After the arrival of one, she was detained by head winds, so that we continued our passage along the shores of the lake. We left Oswego Fort, Monday afternoon, and reached Niagara Fort, Saturday morning, about one hundred and fifty or sixty miles, as the shore runs; our boats were too small to be at any considerable distance from it. The wood near the lake is mostly beech, and the lands seem to be pretty good. We found very few small brooks running from the shore into the lake. I think, therefore, that the country must be dry when cleared. What makes this navigation dangerous, is that the banks are in many places steep, and when the sea rises to a considerable degree, the boats beat to pieces against it. The waters in the lake are now very low. It is said that these lakes fill once in seven years, and that they will probably be full the next year.

We were from Schenectady to Niagara from the 9th to the 25th, besides going across the lake in the night; the whole made seventeen days. We passed in a good time of the year, and in the best state of the water in the rivers. The distance is about 360 miles, in passing which it will, one time with another, consume three weeks at the least; most as long as crossing the Atlantic.

May 25. Immediately on my arrival at Niagara, Governor Simcoe sent for me; the other Commissioners were with him; he shew me my room. We remained with him a num

ber of days; but knowing that we occupied a large proportion of his house, and that Mrs. Simcoe was absent, and so probably on our account, we contemplated a removal, and of encamping at the Landing, six miles from this place, where the Friends were encamped. But when the Governor was informed of our intentions, he barred a removal. His politeness and hospitality, of which he has a large share, prevented our executing the designs we had formed. This was in a degree painful, because we could not see a period to it, as the time of assembling the Indians was uncertain.

June 4. The King's birth-day; to all the ceremonies of which our duty required us to attend. At eleven o'clock the Governor had a levee at his house, at which the officers of government, the members of the legislature, the officers of the army, and a number of strangers attended. After some time, the Governor came in, preceded by two of his family. He walked up to the head of the hall, and began a conversation with those standing in that part of the hall, and went around to the whole, and I believe spoke with every person present. This was soon over, and we all retired. At one o'clock there were firings from the troops, the battery, and from the ship in the harbor. In the evening there was quite a splendid ball, about twenty well-dressed, handsome ladies, and about three times that number of gentlemen present. They danced from seven o'clock to eleven. Supper was then announced, where we found every thing good and in pretty taste. In all this there was not any thing very particular; the music and dancing were good, and every thing was conducted with propriety. What excited the best feelings of my heart, was the ease and affection with which the ladies met each other; although there were a number present whose mothers sprang from the aborigines of the country. They appeared as well dressed as the company in general, and intermixed with them in a manner which evinced at once the dignity of their own minds and the good sense of others. These ladies possess great ingenuity and industry, and have great merit; for the education which they have acquired is owing principally to their own industry, as their father, Sir William Johnson, was dead, and the mother retained the dress and manners of her tribe.

Governor Simcoe is exceedingly attentive to these public assemblies, and makes it his study to reconcile the inhabi