From this statement it not only appears evident that the St. Lawrence opens a shorter passage to the lakes than any of the other rivers, but also that the portages are shorter than in any of the other routes; the portages are also fewer, and goods may be transported in the same boats the whole way from Montreal to the lakes; whereas in conveying goods thither either from Washington or New York, it is necessary to employ different boats and men on each different river, or else to transport the boats themselves on carriages over the portages from one river to another. It is always an object of importance to avoid a portage, as by every change in the mode of conveyance the expence of carriage is increased, and there is an additional risk of pillage from the goods passing through the hands of a greater number of people. Independent of these considerations, the St. Lawrence will, on another account, be found a more commodious channel than any other for the carrying on of trade between the ocean and the lakes. Constantly supplied from that immense reservoir of water, Lake Ontario, it is never so low, even in the driest season, as not to be sufficiently deep to float laden bateaux. The small streams, on the contrary, which connect Hudson’s River, the Patowmac, and the Mississippi with the lakes, are frequently so dried up in summer time, that it is scarcely possible to pass along them in canoes. For upwards of four months in the summer of 1796, the Mohawk River was so low, that it was totally impracticable to transport merchandize along it during the greater part of its course, and the traders in the back country, after waiting for a length of time for the goods they wanted, were under the necessity at last of having them forwarded by land carriage. The navigation of this river, it is said, becomes worse every year, and unless several long canals are cut, there will be an end to the water communication between New York and Lake Ontario by that route. The Alleghany River and French Creek, which connect the Patowmac with Lake Erie, are equally affected by droughts; indeed it is only during floods, occasioned by the melting of the snow, or by heavy falls of rain, that goods can be transported with ease either by the one route or the other.