The first view of this place, after passing through a timbered country twenty-eight miles, strikes the eye of the beholder as one of the most magnificent landscapes human fancy can picture, and the beauty of the scene is not unfrequently heightened by the appearance of large vessels navigating the lake. At the sight of these immense bodies of water, the mind of a reflecting man must be struck with admiration. With only the interception of the portage of nine miles at Niagara Falls they may be navigated to the westward at least two thousand miles ; and at one place the portage betw^een Lake Michigan and the navigable waters of the Illinois, does not exceed half a mile. I was at Sodus some time ago, when a boat, with a number of

• Some of these islands contain fifty acres, all of very fine soil : they produce regetables in great abundance, particularly onions.

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families on board, put into the bay, they appeared to be French. Being questioned as to their business, they said they were bound for the Spanish settlements on the Illinois River, some of them had been there the year before, and stated, that, excepting the Falls of Niagara, they had only a carrying-place of half a mile from Lake Michigan to a branch of the Illinois River. They said they had still one thousand five hundred miles to sail. What an extensive navigation !

You will find the Genesee Country abounding with situations both valuable to the farmer and amusing to the gentleman and man of leisure : but amongst the variety it affords, they must all yield to Sodus ; for fishing, fowling, sailing or hunting, this latter place stands unrivalled • and perhaps no place in America can equal it.