it is probable that government will encourage the opening of mines in our own dominions, rather than suffer the people of the States to enjoy such a very lucrative branch of trade as they must necessarily have, if the same policy is persisted in which has hitherto been pursued. [Sidenote: COPPER ORES.] Copper, in the more remote parts of Upper Canada, is found in much greater abundance than iron, and as it may be extracted from the earth with considerably less trouble than any of the iron ore that has yet been discovered, there is reason to imagine, that at a future day it will be much more used than iron for every purpose to which it can be applied. On the borders of a river, which falls into the south-west side of Lake Superior, virgin copper is found in the greatest abundance; and on most of the islands on the eastern side it is also found. In the possession of a gentleman at Niagara I saw a lump of virgin copper of several ounces weight, apparently as pure as if it had passed through fire, which I was informed had been struck off with a chisel from a piece equally pure, growing on one of these islands, which must at least have weighed forty pounds. Rich veins of copper are visible in almost all the rocks on these islands towards the shore; and copper ore, resembling copperas, is likewise found in deep beds near the water: in a few hours bateaux might here be filled with ore, and in less than three days conveyed to the Straits of St. Mary, after passing which the ore might be laden on board large vessels, and conveyed by water without any further interruption as far as Niagara River. The portage at the Straits of St. Mary may be passed in a few hours, and with a fair wind large vessels, proper for traversing Lakes Huron and Erie, may come down to the eastern extremity of the latter lake in six days. Not only the building and fitting out of vessels on the lakes is attended with considerable expence, but the cost of keeping them up is likewise found to be very great, for they wear out much sooner than vessels employed commonly on the ocean; which circumstance, according to the opinion of the naval gentlemen on the lakes, is owing to the freshness of the water; added to this, no sailors are to be hired but at very high wages, and it is found necessary to retain them at full pay during the five months of the year that the vessels are laid up on account of the ice, as men cannot be procured at a moment’s notice. The sailors, with a few exceptions only, are procured from sea-ports, as it is absolutely necessary on these lakes, the navigation of which is more dangerous than that of the ocean, to have able and experienced seamen. Lake Ontario itself is never frozen out of sight of land, but its rivers and harbours are regularly blocked up by the ice.