Goods may be carried from this lake in Battoes or flatt. bottomed Vessels, through Pennsylvania, to Maryland & Virginia, the current of the river running every where easy, without any cataract in all that large space, In going down this River two large branches of the same River are met, which come from the westward, & issue from the long ridge of mountains, which stretch along behind Pensylvania, Maryland, Virginia & Carolina, commonly call'd the Apalachy Mountains. By either of these Branches Goods may be carried to the Mountain & I am told that the passage through the Mountains to the Branches of the Misissipi which issue from the West side of these Moun- - tains, is neither long nor difficult ; by which means an Inland Navigation may be made to the Bay of Mexico. From the Head of the Mohawks River there is likewise a short land Carriage of four miles only, to a Creek of the The great lakes or Cneida lake, which empties it self into Cadarackui Lake at Oswego : and the Cadarackui Lake, being

Hudson's River.

174 STATE OF THE

. truely an Inland sca, of greater breadth than can be seen by the

eye, communicates with Lake Erie, the Lake of the Hurons, Lake Michigan & the Upper lake, all of them Inland seas, By means of these Lakes, & the Rivers which fall into them, Commerce may be carried from New York, through a vast Tract of Land, more easily than from any other maritime Town in North America.