Going on shore, we visited Lockport, a prosperous city with about 20,000 inhabitants, which is the center of a large paper and pulp industry. A five hours' journey on Saturday morning, July 29th, past Pendleton, Picardsville, Martinsville, Tonawanda and Lower Black Rock, completed our charming trip on the Erie Canal, which has from Schenectady to Buffalo a length of 323 miles. The construction of this great artificial waterway, in all nearly 350 miles long, having an elevation of about 500 feet above tide water, made by seventy-two locks, was commenced in 1817, and its completion took place in 1825. Although this immense undertaking has caused an expense of $50,000,000, the State of New York has made an excellent investment with that sum of money; since by means of the Erie Canal the domestic trade between the large western inland towns and the eastern seaports, especially the metropolis, is considerably facilitated. This traffic will receive a still greater importance, and can be more advantageously carried on, when the plan of utilizing the electric current for the driving power of canal-boats--a project recently tested by experiments--has been successfully executed. Prior to 1857, this waterway was used for both trade and passenger transportation. Since the introduction of railroad communication, however, the canal has been the medium of conveying merchandise only; wherefore, our interesting trip on the steam-yacht "Marguerite" is one of a few exceptions to the ordinary routine of the Erie Canal. CHAPTER II. SOJOURN IN BUFFALO AND VISIT TO NIAGARA FALLS, FROM JULY 29TH, 1.30 P.M., TO AUGUST 2ND, 7 A.M. It was a bright and sunny day; the atmosphere being purified by a strong but refreshing breeze. As the noonday sun poured his brilliant rays on the towering hills which adorn the luxuriant banks of the canal, it was announced that in the distance there could be discerned the dark line which indicated our approach to the verdant tract encompassing the thriving city of _Buffalo_, the terminus of our voyage on the Erie Canal. While the boat was speeding along, this point upon which our attention was chiefly fixed, became more cognizable with every minute. Rising upwards to our left we could perceive domes of the most graceful proportions, towering structures, for number and form beyond my power to describe. On the other side, there lay spread before us, in vast expanse, the unrivaled water front which skirts the city of Buffalo, extending two and one-half miles along the shore of Lake Erie and two and one-half miles along Niagara River.