Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 2 of 2]Weld, Isaac
History
Travels through the states of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, during the years 1795, 1796, and 1797 [Vol. 2 of 2]
Weld, Isaac
Canada -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; United States -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
About eight o’clock the next, and eighth morning of our voyage, we
entered the last lake before you come to that of Ontario, called the
Lake of a Thousand Islands, on account of the multiplicity of them which
it contains. Many of these islands are scarcely larger than a bateau,
and none of them, except such as are situated at the upper and lower
extremities of the lake, appeared to me to contain more than fifteen
English acres each. They are all covered with wood, even to the very
smallest. The trees on these last are stunted in their growth, but the
larger islands produce as fine timber as is to be found on the main
shores of the lake. Many of these islands are situated so closely
together, that it would be easy to throw a pebble from one to the other,
notwithstanding which circumstance, the passage between them is
perfectly safe and commodious for bateaux, and between some of them that
are even thus close to each other, is water sufficient for a frigate.
The water is uncommonly clear, as it is in every part of the river, from
Lake St. Francis upwards: between that lake and the Utawas River
downwards it is discoloured, as I have before observed, by passing over
beds of marl. The shores of all these islands under our notice are
rocky; most of them rise very boldly, and some exhibit perpendicular
masses of rock towards the water upwards of twenty feet high. The
scenery presented to view in sailing between these islands is beautiful
in the highest degree. Sometimes, after passing through a narrow strait,
you find yourself in a bason, land locked on every side, that appears to
have no communication with the lake, except by the passage through which
you entered; you are looking about, perhaps, for an outlet to enable you
to proceed, thinking at last to see some little channel which will just
admit your bateau, when on a sudden an expanded sheet of water opens
upon you, whose boundary is the horizon alone; again in a few minutes
you find yourself land locked, and again a spacious passage as suddenly
presents itself; at other times, when in the middle of one of these
basons, between a cluster of islands, a dozen different channels, like
so many noble rivers, meet the eye, perhaps equally unexpectedly, and on
each side the islands appear regularly retiring till they sink from the
sight in the distance. Every minute, during the passage of this lake,
the prospect varies. The numerous Indian hunting encampments on the
different islands, with the smoke of their fires rising up between the
trees, added considerably to the beauty of the scenery as we passed it.
The Lake of a Thousand Islands is twenty-five miles in length, and about
six in breadth. From its upper end to Kingston, at which place we
arrived early in the evening, the distance is fifteen miles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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