They are fugitives (in general) from Lower Canada or the colonies who fly from their debtors or the law, and being proficient in all sorts of vice and debauchery corrupt the morals of the savages and communicate to the wretches disorders they might have continued untainted by, were it not for the intercourse with these engagés. Having contracted new debts, they fly to the more remote posts where they recommence the same rade."

The population of the settlement did not exceed 2100 of whom 127 were slaves. The French Canadians he described as easy-going and illiterate, few of them being able to read and still fewer to write their town names. "They build on the borders of the Straight, and occupy about thirteen miles in length on the north and eight on the south side. The houses are all of log or frame work, shingled. The most have their orchards adjoining; the appearance of the settlement is very smiling."

The new settlers on the other hand were active and enterprising. They had introduced sheep and black cattle and their farms were managed to the best advantage. All the large vessels on the lakes were owned by them and he anticipated that in a few years the Canadians would be compelled to part with their lands and become reduced to the condition of dependents. It is stated, apparently on good authority, that there were then only thirty Scotchmen, fifteen Irishmen, and two Englishmen in Detroit, exclusive of the garrison, but the greater part of the trade of the place was already in their hands.

The population was considerably increased during the war by the arrival of fugitives and prisoners from the frontier who were encouraged to settle on lands in the vicinity. Indian parties accompanied by white officers were constantly sent out to harass the borders of Virginia and Kentucky and traders followed in their trail with packhorses as far as the villages near the Ohio. The portage from the Miami of the Lakes to the Wabash had been made passable for carts and the exclusive right of carrying goods was granted to Mr. Maisonville of Detroit.

At Niagara there was not a single inhabited house outside the walls of the fort. Glimpses of the state of trade and the life of a trader at that post during the Revolution are found in the correspondence of Francis Goring.

Writing on the 23rd of Sept. 1779, he says :—“ I have lived at this place three years last August, and have had two masters in that time and am now getting a third, still in the same house. The first was Mr Pollard, he made a great fortune and left off. The second, Mr Robison, who was formerly a captain on these lakes, is now tired of business and assigns

in favour of George Forsyth who has treated me with the greatest kindness and is ready to serve me in anything I should ask.

several offers by my two old employers to leave Niagara and live with them in Canada, but I believe I shall continue here which I prefer to Canada, the popular place where everything is carried on with the greatest gaiety, and this is a place which you may say is almost out of the world, in the woods, and frequented by nothing but Indians except the people of the garrison. . . At this place is carried on a great business which consumes every year £30,000 sterling worth of merchandise of all sorts which is mostly retailed to the Indians. We employ four clerks of which I am the senior. For the first two years my salary was but small, but I have now (and I flatter myself that there is not a clerk in these parts that has so much) about fifty guineas per annum, being found food and washing. By carrying on a correspondence with my friend Mr. Cruikshank who supplies me with silver work, such as the Indians wear, which I dispose of to the merchants in the upper country, and the profit arising therefrom is sufficient to find me in clothes."

In 1767, Sir William Johnson reported the presence of unlicensed traders at Toronto, but it seems to have been abandoned altogether as the trading-station soon afterwards. Even the trail leading to Lake Simcoe was little used, and the Trent valley route became almost forgotten. Benjamin Frobisher said in 1785:-"I have seen several persons who have gone from hence (Montreal) to Lake Huron by the carrying place of Toronto, but have only met with one who set out from the Bay of Kentie and that so far back as the year 1761 and the knowledge he seems to have of the country he travelled through I consider very imperfect."

The commerce of Oswego had steadily declined since the conquest. Instead of forty or fifty traders as in 1750, but one named Parlow remained in the summer of 1779. His property was pillaged and his buildings burnt by a party of Americans and Indians sent for that purpose from Fort Stanwix and he then took shelter in the small fort recently built on Carleton Island. Other traders followed him there and for a few years a fair trade was carried on with the neighboring Indians. The continuance of the war occasioned everywhere an enormous rise in prices and a great scarcity of imported goods.

The scarcity of coin and in fact of any medium of exchange probably accrued to the benefit of the traders. Gold, silver, and even copper coins of most Euopean countries passed current. In addition to the ordinary French and English pieces, Spanish moidores, pistareens, pistoles, and dollars, the Johannes of Portugal and Caroline of Germany were in common circulation.

LAKE CURRENTS.

BY L. J. CLARK.

(Read, 23rd April, 1892.)

At a meeting of the Canadian Institute, held April 4th, 1891, the following resolution was passed, on motion of the writer seconded by Mr. A. Macdougall:

"That before any further steps be taken to promote the construction of a 'Trunk Sewer,' it is necessary that more definite, and precise information be obtained regarding the currents of the lake between the mouth of the Humber, and the south side of the Island and Victoria Park."

"That the City Council be requested to take a series of Float Observations for a period of at least three months, extending through the summer and a portion of the fall-say from July till October-with temperature observations of the water at various depths, and readings of the velocity and direction of the wind, taken on the lake at the same time the floats are put in; these floats to be placed in deep water, commencing at thirty, feet in depth, and extending to sixty feet, or even deeper."

"That the co-operation of the Provincial Board of Health, and the Board of Trade be enlisted; and that a copy of this resolution be sent to each of the boards and to the City Council; and that a delegation consisting of Professor Carpmael, Dr. Canniff, Mr. A. Harvey and the Mover and Seconder be appointed to bring the matter before the above named corporate bodies."

In pursuance of the above resolution the matter was brought to the attention of the Boards of Health and Trade respectively, and unanimously endorsed by them. Also a committee was nominated by each body to co-operate with the committee from this Institute to bring the matter before the City Council. Mayor E. F. Clarke arranged for a meeting with the City Engineer, W. T. Jennings, at which the subject was duly discussed, with the result that the engineering department undertook, with the assistance of the departments under Professor Carpmael and Dr. Bryce, to carry out the investigations referred to, the former to supply data from the Observatory in regard to the direction and velocity

of the wind, while the latter was to make a thorough analysis, both chemical and bacteriological, of samples of water taken from the various points.

The investigations were carried out under the directions of Mr. C. Rust, Assistant Engineer, and N. Kerr, of the Engineer's department, Dr. Mackenzie, of the Provincial Board of Health, and the writer on behalf of the Institute. On the first trip, besides the above named gentlemen, Professor Carpmael, Arthur Harvey, President of the Institute, Mr. Hamilton, Manager of the Waterworks, and Mr. R. W. Elliot, of the Board of Trade, accompanied the expedition; and on many of the subsequent trips, scientific gentlemen and interested citizens showed the importance which they attached to the investigations by joining in, and giving the benefit of their suggestions to, the work.

The apparatus used for ascertaining the direction and velocity of the currents was a float or drag made of two cross brackets of wood covered with linen, a rope of from twenty to sixty feet attached, to suit the required depth, and a tin float surmounted by a flag, and numbered. The floats were made of different sizes, the arm pieces of the brackets varying from two and a half feet to five feet in length, and the canvas from 27 to 54 inches in breadth. These drags required to be nicely adjusted by hanging weights to them to keep them in position, and it sometimes occurred that we would lose a float, flag and all, by weighting it a little too heavily.

FLOAT

Stations were placed nine in number along the city front from the mouth of the Humber to Victoria Park in water ranging from thirty to sixty feet in depth, as follows, No. 1, in Humber Bay, off West Toronto Water Works; No. 2, half way between No. I and the mouth of the new intake; No. 3, at the intake; No. 4, outside the Island in a line with Church Street; No. 5, south of the Eastern Gap; No. 6, off Ashbridge's Bay in a line with Leslie Street; No. 7, off the Woodbine; No. 8, half a mile off Victoria Park wharf, and No. 9, one mile south of No. 8, in 70 feet of water.

A couple of sextants, a good marine glass, a sounding line, a supply of glass-stoppered bottles with apparatus for taking deep water samples,

and a couple of self-registering thermometers, together with one for taking deep sea temperatures completed our outfit. The deep sea thermometer referred to, was supplied by Professor Carpmael from the Observatory, and was of a pattern specially designed for taking observations on the ship Challenger on its voyages of deep sea investigations; it was made by the celebrated firm of Zambra and Negretti.

Our modus operandi was to start from Church Street wharf, about 9 a.m., on board the Ada Alice and visit our stations, take samples of water, record the temperatures, and put out generally two floats at each station; then come in between 12 m. and I p.m., and start out again at 2 p.m., and pick up our floats, taking observations by means of the sextants of their location when taken up. These positions were afterwards plotted on a map, showing by means of lines and arrows the direction. and distance the floats had moved. The direction and velocity of the wind was afterwards obtained from the observatory for the corresponding days and the whole tabulated as follows:

The observations were continued altogether about 35 days, viz.: 8 days in July, 5 in August, 9 in September and 11 in October. Some days the lake was so rough it was impossible to continue our operations; on the 3rd of July, having got as far as the Eastern Gap we were compelled to turn back owing to the quantity of water shipped by the Ada Alice. It