41 deg. 48' to 42 deg. 18' north, and divides that part of
Canada from the United States. Possessing a salubrious climate, a
productive soil, and a water communication with the upper and lower
lakes and the river St. Lawrence, we can scarcely conceive any thing
more favorable than the geographical position of the adjacent country.
Michigan afforded a rich field for "fowling" and fishing, and its
forests were plentifully supplied with various kinds of game. It was the
opinion of a former governor of Upper Canada, Simcoe, that the
peninsula of that province formed by Lakes Huron, St. Clair, Erie,
Ontario, Rice, and Simcoe, would alone furnish a surplus of wheat
sufficient for the wants of Great Britain. The banks of the Detroit were
in many places thickly peopled and in a fair state of cultivation. The
inhabitants on the Canadian side were chiefly of French origin, who
began to occupy the country when Canada was still under the dominion of
France. They still retained that urbanity of manners which distinguishes
them from the peasantry of most countries. Further back, the country was
settled principally by Americans, partial to the United States. Three or
four years after the war, the houses were so numerous and so close
together upon the banks of the Detroit, that there was an appearance of
a succession of villages for more than ten miles. The farms were very
narrow in front, extending a long way back, and were allotted in this
awkward and inconvenient form, that their respective occupants might be
able to render each other assistance when attacked by the Indians, who
were at one time very numerous and troublesome in this vicinity.

The banks of the river Detroit are the Eden of Upper Canada, in so far
as regards the production of fruit. Apples, pears, plums, peaches,
grapes, and nectarines, attain the highest degree of perfection, and
exceed in size, beauty, and flavour, those raised in any other part of
the province. Cider abounds at the table of the meanest peasant, and
there is scarcely a farm that has not a fruitful orchard attached to it.
This fineness of the fruit is one consequence of the amelioration of
climate, which takes place in the vicinity of the Detroit river and Lake
St. Clair. The seasons there are much milder and more serene than they
are a few hundred miles below, and the weather is likewise drier and
less variable. Comparatively little snow falls during the winter,
although the cold is often sufficien