Canada and the Canadians

S >> Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle >> Canada and the Canadians

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The worst, however, of these iron boats is that two can play at shelling
and long shots; and gunnery-practice is now brought to such perfection,
that an iron steamer might very possibly soon get the worst of it from a
heavy battery on the level of the sea; for a single accident to the
machinery, protected as it is in that vessel, would, if there was no
wind, put her entirely at the mercy of the gunners. The old wooden
walls, after all, are better adapted to attack a fortress, as they can
stand a good deal of hammering from both shot and shells.

But to revert to matters more germane to the lakes.

Volney, the first expounder of the system of the warm wind of the south
supplying the great lakes, has received ample corroboration of his data
from observation. The fact that the deflection of the great trade-wind
from the west to a northern direction by the Mexican Andes Popocatepetl,
Istaccihuetl, Naucampatepetl, &c., whose snowy summits have a frigid
atmosphere of their own, is proved by daily experience.

Whenever southerly winds prevail--and, in the cycle of the gyration of
atmospherical currents, this is certain, and will be reduced to
calculation--the great lakes are filled to the edge; and whenever
northern and northeasterly winds take their appointed course, then these
mediterraneans sink, and the valley of the Mississippi is filled to
overflowing.

But the most curious facts are, that the different lakes exhibit
different phenomena. The Board of Public Works of Ohio states that, in
1837-38, the quantity of water descending from the atmosphere did not
exceed one-third of that which was the minimum quantity of several
preceding years.

Ontario, from the reports of professional persons, has varied not less
than eight feet, and Erie about five. Huron and Superior being
comparatively unknown, no data are afforded to judge from; but what vast
atmospheric agencies must be at work when such wonderful results in the
smaller lakes have been made evident!

People who live at the Niagara Falls, and I agree with them in
observations extending over a period since 1826, believe that these
Falls have receded considerably; and, although I do not enter into the
mathematical analysis of modern geologists respecting them, as to their
constant retrocession, believing that earthquake split open the present
channel, yet I have no doubt that the level of Lake Erie is considerably
affected by the diminution of the yielding shaly rocks of their
foundation. Earthquake, and not retrocession, appears to me, who have
had the singular advantage, as a European, of very long residence, to
have been the cause of that great chasm which now forms the bed of the
Niagara, from the Table Rock to Queenston, in short, a rending or
separating of the rocks rather than a wearing; and this is corroborated
by the many vestiges of great cataracts which now exist near the Short
Hills, the highest summit of the Niagara frontier, between Lakes Erie
and Ontario, as well as by the great natural ravine of St. David's. But
this is a subject too deep for our present purpose, and so we shall
continue to treat of the Great Lakes in another point of view.

Chemically considered, these lakes possess peculiar properties,
according to their boundaries. Superior is too little known to speak of
with certainty--Huron not much better--but Erie, and particularly
Ontario, have been well investigated. The waters of these are pure, and
impregnated chiefly with aluminous and calcareous matter, giving to the
St. Lawrence river a fresh and admirable element and aliment.

The St. Lawrence is of a fine cerulean hue, but, like its parent waters
of Erie and Ontario, rapidly deposits lime and alumine, so that the
boilers of steam-vessels, and even teakettles, soon become furred and
incrusted. The specific gravity of the St. Lawrence water above Montreal
is about 1.00038, at the temperature of 66 deg., the air being then 82 deg. of
Fahrenheit. It contains the chlorides, sulphates, and carbonates, whose
bases are lime and magnesia, particularly and largely those of lime,
which accounts for the rapid depositions when the water is heated.

A very accurate analysis gives, at Montreal, in July, atmospheric air in
solution or admixture 446 per cent; for a quart of this water, 57 inches
cubic measure, evaporated to dryness, left 2.87 solid residue.

Grains.
Sulphate of magnesia 0.62
Chloride of calcium 0.38
Carbonate of magnesia 0.27
Carbonate of lime 1.29
Silica 0.31
----
2.87

The waters of the Ottawa, flowing through an unexplored country, are of
a brown or dark colour. Their specific gravity is only (compared to
distilled water) as 1.0024 at 66 deg., the temperature of the air in July
being 82 deg..

The 57 cubic inches of this water gave

0.99 sulphate of magnesia.
0.60 chloride of lime.
1.07 carbonate of magnesia.
0.17 carbonate of lime.
0.31 silica.
----
2.87

The difference of the colours of these waters is so great, that a
perfect line of distinction is drawn where they cross each other; and
there can be no doubt that it is caused by the reflection of the rays of
light from the impregnation of different saline quantities.

Thus as, in the old world, the waters of the Shannon are brown, and
Ireland, speaking generally, as Kohl says, is a "brown" country;[8] so,
in Upper Canada, St. Lawrence and the lakes are blue and green; and in
Lower Canada, St. Lawrence and the Ottawa are brown of various shades, a
very slight alteration of the chemical components reflecting rays of
colour as forcibly and perceptibly as, in like manner, a very slight
change of component parts develops sugar and sawdust. Nature, in short,
is very simple in all her operations.

[Footnote 8: Canada is a blue country; for, a very short distance from
the observer, the atmosphere tinges everything blue; and the waters are
chiefly of that colour, the sky intensely so.]

Before we proceed to the lower extremity of these wonderful sheets of
water again, let us just for a moment glance at what is about to be
achieved upon their surfaces, and place the Sault of St. Marie or St.
Mary's Rapids, which separate Superior from Huron, before an
Englishman's eyes. There at present nothing is talked of but copper
mines and silver or argentiferous copper ores.

The Falls of St. Mary are only rapids of no very formidable character,
the exit of Lake Superior into Lake Huron. Fifteen miles from the end of
the Great Lake, as Superior is called, are the American village of St.
Mary and the British one of the same name, on the opposite bank of the
River St. Mary.

The Americans have so far strengthened their position, that there is a
sort of fort, called Fort Brady, with two companies of regulars; and in
and about the village are scattered a thousand people of every possible
colour and origin, a great portion being, of course, half-breeds and
Indians. The American Fur Company has also a post at this place, one of
the very few remaining; for the fur trade in these regions is rapidly
declining by the extirpation of the animals which sustained it.

The American government have projected a ship canal to avoid these
rapids; and, if that is completed, a vast trade will soon grow up.

About a mile above the village is the landing-place from Lake Superior,
at the head of the rapids; there the strait is broad and deep; but,
until steamers are built, sailing vessels suffer the disadvantage of
being moveable out of the harbour by an east wind only, and this wind
does not blow there oftener than once a month. It is probable that a
proper harbour will be constructed at the foot of the lake, fifteen
miles above.

These rapids have derived their French name _Sault_ from their rushing
and leaping motion; but they are very insignificant when compared to the
Longue Sault on the St. Lawrence, as the inhabitants cross them in
canoes.

I cannot describe them more minutely than Mrs. Jameson has done in her
"Summer Rambles." She crossed them, and must have experienced some
trepidation, for it requires a skilful voyageur to steer the canoe; and
it is surprising with what dexterity the Indian will shoot down them as
swiftly as the water can carry his fragile vessel. The Indians, however,
consider such feats much in the same light as a person fond of boating
would think of pulling a pair of oars, or sculling himself across the
current of a rivulet. I was once subjected to a rather awkward
exemplification of this fact. Being on a hurried journey, and expecting
to be frozen in, as it is called, before I could terminate it; I hired
an Indian and his little canoe, just big enough to hold us both, and
pushed through by-ways in the forest streams and portages. We were
paddling merrily along a pretty fair stream, which ran fast, but
appeared to reach many miles ahead of us; when, all of a sudden, my
guide said, "Sit fast." I perceived that the water was moving much more
rapidly than it had hitherto done, and that the Indian had wedged
himself in the stern, and was steering only with the paddle. We swept
along merrily for a mile, till "The White Horses," as the breakers are
called, began to bob their heads and manes. "Hold fast!" ejaculated the
Red Man. I laid hold of both edges of the canoe, firm as a rock, and in
a moment the horrid sound of bursting, bubbling, rushing waters was in
mine ears; foam and spray shut out every thing; and away we went, down,
down, down, on, on, on, as swift as thought, until, all of a sudden, the
little buoyant piece of birch-bark floated like a swan upon the bosom of
the tranquil waters, a mile beyond the Fall, for such indeed it might
be called, the absolute difference of level having been twelve feet.

When at ease again, I looked at the imperturbable savage and said, "What
made you take the Fall? was not the _detour_ passable?"--"Yes, suppose
it was! Fall better!"--"But is it very dangerous?"--"Yes, suppose,
sometime!"--"Any canoes ever lost there?"--"Yes, sometime; one two, tree
days ago, there!" pointing to a large rock in the middle of the
narrowest part above our heads.--"Did you come down there?"--"Yes,
suppose, did!"

Then, thought I to myself, I shall not trust my body to your guidance in
future without knowing something of the route beforehand; but I
afterwards got accustomed to these taciturn sons of the forest.

The Falls of St. Marie are celebrated as a fishing place; and the white
fish caught there are reckoned superior to those taken in any other part
of Lake Huron. The fishery is picturesque enough, and is carried on in
canoes, manned usually by two Indians or half-breeds, who paddle up the
rapids as far as practicable. The one in the bow has a scoop-net, which
he dips, as soon as one of these glittering fish is observed, and lands
him into the canoe. Incredible numbers of them are taken in this simple
manner; but it requires the canoemanship and the eye of an Indian.

The French still show their national characteristics in this remote
place. They first settled here before the year 1721, as Charlevoix
states; and, in 1762, Henry, a trader on Lake Huron, found them
established in a stockaded fort, under an officer of the French army.
The Jesuits visited Lake Superior as early as 1600; and in 1634 they had
a rude chapel, the first log hut built so far from civilization, in this
wilderness. At present, the population are French, Upper Canadians,
English, Scotch, Yankees, Indians, half-breeds.

The climate is healthy, very cold in winter, with a short but very warm
summer, and always a pure air. Here the Aurora Borealis is seen in its
utmost glory. In summer there is scarcely any night; for the twilight
lasts until eleven o'clock, and the tokens of the returning sun are
visible two hours afterwards.

The extremes of civilized and savage life meet at St. Mary's; for here
live the educated European or American, and the pure heathen Red Man;
here steamboats and the birch canoe float side by side; and here
all-powerful Commerce is already recommencing a deadly rivalry between
the Briton and the American, not for furs and peltry, as in days gone
by, but for copper and for metals; and here a new world is about to be
opened, and that too very speedily.

Here are Indian agents and missionaries, with schools, both the English
and the United States' government considering the entrance to the Red
Man's country, whose gates are so narrow and still closed up, to be of
very great importance, both in a commercial and a political point of
view; but it is notorious that, after the French Canadians, the Red Man
prefers his Great Mother beyond the Great Lake and her subjects to the
President and the people, who are rather too near neighbours to be
pleasant, and who have somewhat unceremoniously considered the natives
of the soil as so many obstacles to their aggrandizement.

I shall end this sketch of the lakes, by a few observations upon the
magnetic phenomena regarding them, and respecting the variation of the
compass.

Fort Erie, near the eastern termination of Lake Erie, and close to the
Niagara river, presents the line of no variation; whilst at the town of
Niagara, on the south-west end of Lake Ontario, not more than thirty-six
miles from Fort Erie, the variation in 1832 was 1 deg. 20' east.

The line of no variation is marked distinctly on the best maps of
Canada, by the division line between the townships of Stamford and
Niagara, seven miles north of Niagara.

At Toronto in 43 deg. 39' north latitude, and 78 deg. 4' west longitude,
twenty-four miles north-east of Niagara, the variation in 1832 was more
than 2 deg. easterly.

The shore of Lake Huron at Nottawassaga Bay, forty miles north-west of
Toronto, is again the line of no variation.

Thus a magnetic meridian lies between Fort Erie and Nottawassaga.

A magnetic observatory is established by the Board of Ordnance at
Toronto, near the University, and placed in charge of two young officers
of artillery, which says a good deal for the scientific acquirements of
that corps. I shall perhaps hereafter advert to this subject more at
large, as the volcanic rocks have much to do with the needle in Canada
West.

END OF VOL. I.

Frederick Shoberl, Junior, Printer to His Royal Highness Prince Albert.

51, Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.

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