liberty, and are constantly in the practice, of carrying passengers across the lake at an established price. The commodore of the King’s vessels on Lake Ontario is a French Canadian, and so likewise are most of the officers under him. Their uniform is blue and white, with large yellow buttons, stamped with the figure of a beaver, over which is inscribed the word, “Canada.” The naval officers are under the controul of the military officer commandant, at every post where their vessels happen to touch; and they cannot leave their vessels to go up into the country at any time without his permission. Footnote 10: Subsequent orders, it was said, were issued, during the summer of 1797, to have one or more of these vessels put again in commission. [Sidenote: MERCHANT VESSELS.] Several decked merchant vessels, schooners, and sloops, of from fifty to two hundred tons each, and also numberless large sailing bateaux, are kept employed on Lake Ontario. No vessels are deemed proper for the navigation of these lakes but complete sea boats, or else flat bottomed vessels, such as canoes and bateaux, that can safely run ashore on an emergency. At present the people of the United States have no other vessels than bateaux on the lake, and whether they will deem it proper to have larger vessels, as their harbours are all so indifferent, remains yet to be determined. The large British vessels ply mostly between Kingston and Niagara, and but very rarely touch at any other place. The expence of building, and equipping vessels on Lake Ontario, is very considerable; and it is still greater on the more distant lakes, as the larger part of the iron implements, and all the cordage wanted for that purpose, are imported from Great Britain, through the medium of the lower province. There can be no doubt, however, but that when the country is become more populous, an ample supply of these necessary articles will be readily procured on the spot; for the soil of the upper province is well adapted to the growth of hemp, and iron ore has been discovered in many parts of the country. Hemp already begins to be cultivated in small quantities; but it has hitherto been the policy of government to direct the attention of the people to agriculture, rather than to any other pursuit, so that none of the iron mines, which, together with all other mines that are, or that may hereafter be discovered, are the exclusive property of the crown, have yet been opened. The people of the United States, however, alive to every prospect of gain, have already sent persons to look for iron ore in that part of their territory situated conveniently to the lakes. These persons have been very successful in their searches; and as works will undoubtedly be established speedily by them in this quarter for the manufacture of iron, and as they will be able to afford it on much better terms than that which is brought all the way from Lower Canada,