nce of 89 miles, for one cent and a quarter per mile!! a
York shilling for each meal extra, and to make no charge for births,
which are a very necessary accommodation, as the boats run day and
night. "Thinks I to myself" this will make up for the shaved dried
beef, and prepared bread and butter. I had only time to take a casual
peep at Schenectady, but it appears to be a thriving, pleasant town,
and is located principally between the Mohawk and the Canal. Very few
persons take the boats between this place and Albany, on account of the
delay occasioned by the numerous locks. We "set sail by horse power,"
as the Irishman has it, about 2 o'clock P. M., the horses being
attached to a rope about 30 yards long, made fast to the boat
amidships, with our ideas pleasingly elevated at the thought of
traveling on the _Grand Clinton Canal_ for the first time. The
afternoon was cool and pleasant, and never was I more delightfully
situated as a traveller than on this occasion. A majority of my
companions were Western merchants, well informed respecting the
localities and prospects of the country we were passing through, and
ready and willing to give the required information. The Canal, this
afternoon's passage, has been for the most part immediately on the
south bank of the Mohawk, which flows through a narrow valley of good
land, but the hills on either side, unlike the Chester county high
grounds, have a poverty-stricken appearance.

At the close of the twilight we arrived at Schoharie creek, distant 23
miles from our place of embarkation. This is the first place of danger I
have yet observed. The creek is about 30 yards wide at this place, and
is crossed by means of ropes stretched across the stream, which ropes
are your only security; should they give way, you must inevitably go
down the current and pass over a dam immediately below, of several feet
perpendicular descent. In times of a freshet it is very dangerous. Two
or three boats, like the Indians over the falls of Niagara, have already
been forced involuntarily over it, and so far in safety. The horses are
ferried over in scows, pulled by the same ropes. As darkness soon
covered the face of nature, I retired to the cabin, and after sketching
my observations, and enjoying a pleasant confab with my fellow
travellers, retired to my birth, while our boat skimmed its peaceful way
along this artificial and wonderful water communication.

_Extract No. 3_

_8th._--I arose