Mohawk. There are good specimens of petrifaction in this neighbourhood, especially of wood of large size.

Above Little Falls, the canal passes through a plain of fine alluvial land, called the German Flatts, from its being originally peopled by German emigrants. Much of the land, from Schenectady to Utica, consists of good soil. Very little green crop is seen; some potatoe, but very little turnip. Wheat is cut in July; but part of the maize, which is sown in rows, and is a most valuable crop, the great staple of American husbandry,— and of the oats, an indifferent crop, are still in the field. No hedges, and the fences generally of wood, strong substantial posts and rails, for which locust, cedar, and hickery are preferred. The number of farm-houses and cottages seemed to us as great as in well-cultivated districts in England.

We saw many fine maple trees, valuable for giving shade, with little injury to the growth of grass, and grain under them, for their wood so beautifully marked for cabinet-makers,--for fuel, and chiefly, I believe, for giving sugar. The sugar has a peculiar flavour, which we thought unpleasant; but habit would, I doubt not, soon reconcile one to the use of it. The trees are tapped, two or three inches into the wood, with a view to obtaining the sap, from which the sugar is extracted, some time in February, or the beginning of March. The holes are made in a slanting direction, in which sprouts of elder or sumach, projecting from the tree, are placed. The holes are plugged as soon as the sap is drawn. The tree does not become impoverished by

repeated tappings. There are instances on the Hudson, where the process has been continued for fifty years. Maple trees never thrive but on good land.

The party in the canal packet consisted of the ladies and their family who had accompanied us from Albany; one of the agents of the canal; a store-keeper from New Jersey, and his sister; and one or two other gentlemen, besides passing travellers, and workmen, who were often with us only for a mile or two. The charge is, I believe, only three or four cents a mile. There are one hundred cents in a dollar; a cent is therefore of almost equal value with a halfpenny, supposing the dollar to be worth four shillings and threepence Sterling.

Although the passengers were in different ranks in life, as we should think, little or no distinction was observable among them in the perfect freedom with which they entered into conversation, or gave their opinion on any subject which was started. All spoke with equal ease, and seemed on a par.. The canal works, and the beauties of the country, were of course pointed out to the strangers; but the engrossing subject is the election of the president of the United States, to be decided two months hence, which was the topic of warm but perfectly good-humoured discussion. The canal agent

was as vigorous a partisan of Adams, as the storekeeper of Jackson; and we soon found that the opinions of the party were pretty equally divided. Some one said, that Jackson had merely distinguished himself as a soldier, and that it was now too late in life for him to acquire the habits necessary for the great situation to which he

aspired. My friend from New Jersey set us all to rights in this respect. Jackson was originally a lawyer, attorney-general for his state of Tenessee, and for many years member of Congress. A new light was also given us respecting the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister. We were told that the court martial had been prevailed on, after the promulgation of their sentence, when they were entirely divested of the character of a court, to alter it, which they had no more right to do than any other men in the country; that Jackson had merely enforced the first sentence of death in both cases; but that, if he had even altered the sentence, it was no more than our commander-in-chief is every day in the habit of doing, when he is called to revise the sentences of courts martial. If we were to judge of the claims of the candidates from all that we have heard during the few days we have been in this country, we should incline to think that Jackson's popularity is mainly owing to his being considered the sterner, and more inflexible, republican of the two candidates. The family of Adams were from the beginning federalists. The name of Federalist is now extinct, but their principles remain, and are not without influence. The present president, Mr Adams, on one occasion, left his party; and it was for having done so that Mr Jefferson, then president, gave him office.

Nothing struck me more than the ease with which people of the lowest description, as we should view them from their appearance, entered at once into conversation, and delivered and enforced their sentiments.

CANAL COFFEE-HOUSE.

77

The late Sir Isaac Broke was, by some accident, mentioned. The canal agent spoke of him in terms of great respect, as the best commander the British had ever sent to Canada,-equally regretted on both sides of the St Lawrence.

At Utica we landed at the canal coffee-house, and here, at landing for the first time in the United States, saw an intoxicated person, an Indian, standing by the side of the canal, hurraing for Jackson. Having dined in the packet, we were desirous to have tea immediately on our arrival, that we might make as much use of our time as possible, in walking out while day-light remained, but we found that our request could not be complied with, without transgressing the ordinary rules of the house. We might have gained our object by extra payment, but even in that case as a favour. We therefore sallied forth, returning in time for the tea and supper hour at six, when we joined thirty or forty people in a large and rather handsome room seated at table. Tea and coffee were handed about, and there was plenty of food of all kinds, broiled meat, bread and biscuit, and cake of various sorts, plum jam, &c. The boarders seemed to make as hearty a meal as the travellers.

Utica stands on the south bank of the Mohawk, and is altogether of recent erection, though the population is now 8000 or 9000. It is regularly built, and the streets wide, and many handsome houses and gardens. There are several hotels, one of them, Bagg's hotel, a very large house. Utica, being the point where many of the chief roads of the State unite, is a place of great

resort for stages, and has been increasing rapidly since the canal was completed. There are at pre

sent no less than five daily four-horse coaches from hence to Buffalo, on Lake Erie, 200 miles distant, on the way to Niagara; the fare six dollars and a-half, and no payment to coachmen. There is no guard. The stores here are very handsome, and there are several soda-water establishments.

The Trenton Falls,—a succession of falls of water, which travellers generally go to see, there being six chutes, and the wooden ravines and banks very romantic,-are about fourteen miles from Utica, on a creek which supplies the Mohawk; but as there was no intermission of the heat, we preferred proceeding onwards to Niagara in the stage. We had great difficulty in being ready at the hour for departure, the female servant having neglected to bring us a light in sufficient time. We found the stage partly filled before we prepared to take our seats,-half an hour before sunrise,and did not reach Auburn until nearly sunset. A gentleman who had taken his seat in the back row, insisted on giving it up to my wife, so decidedly, as being her right, that she had no alternative, although it was a matter of indifference to her on which row she sat. In the same row with that gentleman was a poor woman, the widow of a labourer on one of the lakes, with a child, to whom the gentlemen, two of whom were persons of no small consideration in point of fortune, showed the same attention and wish to be of use, as