In leaving Buffalo, I crossed, as before stated, a Bay of Lake Erie on the ice. The distance across this Bay is about eight miles. For four and twenty hours previous to my reaching the Lake, appearances indicated a violent storm. It commenced as I passed through Buffalo, and continued until after I had crossed the Lake. Such a snow storm I had never witnessed;—indeed such a snow storm can scarcely be imagined. There was, for hours, a constant whirl of snow, without the least cessation. At noon it was night; the way could not be seen:—there was danger of perishing.
My arrival on the other side of the Bay excited much curiosity.
Lake Erie was, at this time, fast bound in ice. The whole country, excepting the evergreens, presented the aspect of perpetual congelation. The freezing of Lake Erie probably arises, in part, from its being shallow. Its greatest depth does not exceed fifty fathoms.
This Lake derives its name from the Eries, a tribe {86} of Indians once dwelling upon its borders.[42] The scenery of its banks is rather picturesque. The traveller sees many points of land extending into the Lake; much level country; and a few considerable hills. This Lake is
- [Footnote: *pletely destroyed by Sullivan's expedition (1779); but although the English invited
them to cross into Canada with the Mohawk, they refused to go, and a considerable number settled near the mouth of Buffalo and Cattaraugus creeks. When in 1797 the Holland Company purchased the Indian title to their lands, the Seneca retained reservations at these points, also the Allegheny and Tonawanda reservations already mentioned (ante, p. 153), and five smaller ones in the Genesee valley. In 1838 pressure was brought to bear by the Ogden Land Company, and certain chiefs signed a treaty ceding their lands in New York, Congress at the same time granting them lands in Indian Territory. The body of the people, however, refused to move; the New York and Pennsylvania Friends interested themselves in their behalf, and they were allowed to remain.—Ed.]
