ith Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, or even Little York, from
which latter place he was cut off by forty miles of lake, or more than a
hundred miles of dense forest and bridgeless streams--when he decided
upon a flying trip to Detroit, where, during the French _regime_, the
adventurous Cadillac had landed in 1701. He would inspect the western
limit of the frontier now under his care and obtain at first hand a
knowledge of the peninsula. "For," as he remarked to Glegg, his aide,
"if I can read the signs aright, the two nations are rushing headlong
into a military conflict."

Two routes were open to him, one overland, the other land and water. He
chose the latter. A vast quantity of freight now reached Queenston from
Kingston. Vessels of over fifty tons sailed up the river, bearing
merchandise for the North-West Company. Salt pork from Ireland and flour
from London, Britain being the real base of supply--the remote
North-West looking to Niagara for food and clothing--the return cargoes
being furs and grain. To portage these goods around Niagara Falls kept
fifty or more farmers' waggons busy every day during the summer. A team
of horses or oxen could haul twenty "pieces," of one hundred weight
each, for a load. The entire length of the portage from Lake Ontario to
Lake Erie was practically a street, full of all the bustle and activity
that a scattered country population of 12,000 conferred upon it. Two
churches, twenty stores, a printing house, six taverns and a scholastic
academy supplied the varied wants of Niagara's 500 citizens who
overfilled its one hundred dwellings.

From Lake Ontario, Newark, as it had been called, presented an inviting
appearance. The brick-and-stone court-house and jail and brightly
painted Indian council-house and cottages rose in strong contrast
against the green forest. On the river bank was Navy Hall, a log retreat
for seamen, and on Mississaga (Black Snake) Point a stone lighthouse
flashed its red signal of hope to belated mariners. Nearer the lake
shore, in isolated dignity across a mile of common, stood Fort George, a
dilapidated structure with wooden palisades and bastions. Half-acre lots
in the village were given gratis by the Government to anyone who would
build, and eight acres outside for inclosures, besides a large
"commonty" for the use of the people. A quite pretentious wharf lined
the river, and from this, on any summer afternoon, a string of soldiers
and idle citizens might be seen-