If we trace the water communication in an opposite direction, its prodigious extent will be a still greater subject of astonishment. By ascending the Alleghany River from Pittsburgh as far as French Creek, and afterwards this latter stream, you come to Fort le Bœuf. This place is within fifteen miles of Presqu’ Isle, a town situated upon Lake Erie, which has a harbour capable of admitting vessels drawing nine feet water. Or you may get upon the lake by ascending the Great Miami River, which falls into the Ohio five hundred and fifty miles below Pittsburgh. From the Great Miami there is a portage of nine miles only to Sandusky River, which runs into Lake Erie. It is most probable, however, that whatever intercourse there may be between the lakes and the federal city, it will be kept up by means of the Alleghany River and French Creek, rather than by the Miami, as in the last case it would be necessary to combat against the stream of the Ohio for five hundred and fifty miles, a very serious object of consideration. [Sidenote: RIVERS AND LAKES.] Lake Erie is three hundred miles in length, and ninety in breadth, and there is a free communication between it, Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan. Lake Huron is upwards of one thousand miles in circumference; Michigan is somewhat smaller. Numbers of large rivers fall into these lakes, after having watered immense tracts of country in various directions. Some of these rivers too are connected in a most singular manner with others, which run in a course totally different. For instance, after passing over the Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Michigan, to the head of Puan’s Bay, you come to Fox River; from hence there is a portage of three miles only to Ouisconsing River, which empties itself into the Mississippi; and in the fall of the year, when the waters are high, and the rivers overflow, it is oftentimes possible to pass from Fox River to Ouisconsing River without ever getting out of a canoe. Thus, excepting a portage of three miles only at the most, it is possible to go the whole way by water from Presqu’ Isle, on Lake Erie, to New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi, a distance of near four thousand miles. It would be an endless talk to trace the water communication in every direction. By a portage of nine miles at the Falls of Niagara, the navigation of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence is opened on one side, and at the other that of Lake Superior, by a still shorter portage at the Falls of St. Mary. This last lake, which is at least fifteen hundred miles in circumference, is supplied by no less than forty rivers; and beyond it the water communication extends for hundreds of miles farther on, through the Lake of the Woods to Lake Winnipeg, which is still larger than that of Superior.