Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/166

 *uated on the east bank of the river of this name, at its junction with Lake Ontario. This is a very important post. The Fort was built by the French in 1751; and in 1759 it was taken by the British General Johnson, after defeating the French army near that place. The vicinity of the Fort was, originally, the peculiar country of the Iroquois, or Six Nations. As to the causes of Lake Ontario, never freezing, it is evident that they must be local and peculiar. Lake Erie, which is not so far north, freezes hard. This circumstance shows, that congelation does not depend so much upon latitude, as upon other circumstances. Abstractedly it is otherwise; but relative to peculiar local causes the position is correct. In Hudson's Bay, the weather in winter is intensely cold; yet this place is only in the latitude of London. It is generally supposed to be intolerably cold at the North Pole; but the fact may be otherwise. The idea arises from an abstract survey of the nature of latitude, and from connecting it with the known temperature of a particular situation. It is known to be very cold in that part of Greenland which lies on the coast of Baffin's Bay; and the inference drawn is, that the weather is much more so at the North Pole. But, it may as well be said that because it is cold on the river Piscataqua, it is much more so on the river Thames; and yet here the fact contradicts the argument. In some places under the Equator, the weather is as mild in summer as it is in New England; why therefore, may it not be as warm in winter at the North Pole, as in the latter place? In point of analogy the question is unanswerable. But there is a more direct argument: in some situations under the equator, there is

For the courage and skill displayed in the battle of Queenstown he was advanced to the rank of colonel, March, 1813. He died the following July from the effects of a wound received in the battle.—]
 * [Footnote: Columbia College, and in 1808 gave up the study of law to enter the army.