insecure one, being commanded by a lofty hill, called Mount
Defiance. During the great American war, the British troops obtained
possession of this place, by dragging cannon and mortars up the hill,
and firing down upon the fort.

Mr. Weld and his friends, on leaving Ticonderoga, pursued their voyage
to _Crown Point_: Here they landed to inspect the old fort. Nothing,
however, was to be seen but a heap of ruins; for, shortly before it was
surrendered by the British troops, the powder-magazine blew up, and a
great part of the works was destroyed; and, since the final evacuation
of the place, the people of the neighbourhood have been continually
digging in different parts, in the hope of procuring lead and iron shot.
At the south side only the ditches remain perfect: they are wide and
deep, and are cut through immense rocks of limestone; and, from being
overgrown, towards the top, with different kinds of shrubs, they have a
grand and picturesque appearance.

While the party were here, they were agreeably surprised with the sight
of a large birch-canoe, upon the lake, navigated by two or three
Indians, in the dresses of their nation. These made for the shore, and
soon landed; and, shortly afterwards, another party arrived, that had
come by land.

_Lake Champlain_ is about one hundred and twenty miles in length, and is
of various breadths: for the first thirty miles it is, in no place, more
than two miles wide; beyond this, for the distance of twelve miles, it
is five or six miles across; but it afterwards narrows, and again, at
the end of a few miles, expands. That part called the _Broad Lake_,
because broader than any other, is eighteen miles across. Here the lake
is interspersed with a great number of islands. The soundings of Lake
Champlain are, in general, very deep; in many places they are sixty and
seventy, and in some even one hundred fathoms in depth.

The scenery, along the shores of the lake, is extremely grand and
picturesque; particularly beyond Crown Point. Here they are beautifully
ornamented with hanging woods and rocks; and the mountains, on the
western side, rise in ranges one behind another, in the most magnificent
manner possible.

* * * * *

Crossing from the head of Lake Champlain, westward to the river St.
Lawrence, we shall describe the places adjacent to that river, and some
of the north-western parts of the state of New York, in

_A Narrative of_ LIEUTENANT