volume viii, p. 46, note 9.

Tonawanda Creek rises in Wyoming County, New York, flows north through Genesee, and, turning west, forms the boundary between Niagara and Erie counties, entering Niagara River opposite Grand Island. The name in the Seneca language means "rapids," or "riffles." The site of the town of Tonawanda was first settled in 1808; three years later, a block-house was built, in anticipation of an Indian attack, nevertheless, during the War of 1812-15, the hamlet was burned, and little was done to rebuild the place until 1823, when, upon prospect of the near approach of the Erie Canal, the town was platted. The village growth was slow, however, and the place was not incorporated until 1854. It had in 1900 a population of 7,421, and was a manufacturing village of some importance.--ED.

[179] Grand Island, with a cultivable area of 17,381 acres, was in dispute between the United States and Canada until the boundary commission of 1819 decided that the main current of Niagara River lay west of the island. Previously, however (1815), New York had made the purchase from the Seneca, referred to by Maximilian; the price aggregated about $11,000. In 1819 squatters were driven off by order of the state, and in 1824 the island was surveyed and opened for purchase. A contemplated Jewish settlement, to be called Ararat, came to nought. The island was erected into a separate township of Erie County in 1852.

For a brief notice of the battle of Chippewa, see Evans's _Tour_, in our volume viii, p. 175, note 33.--ED.

[180] The first permanent settler on the American side of the falls was Stedman, one of a company of traders whom Sir William Johnson permitted (about 1760) to build a log cabin at the place. This was maintained, chiefly for the portage business, until 1795, when Stedman removed to the Canadian side; after the British evacuation (1796), the land lay unoccupied until 1805, when it was offered for sale, one of the first purchasers being Augustus Porter, a prominent citizen of Niagara village. He removed his family to this place in 1806, and built a mill and blacksmith's shop, obtaining also the portage lease for several years. After the destruction by the British (1813), settlement began again; the village was incorporated in 1847, and in 1892 the city of Niagara Falls, which now has a population of about 20,000.--ED.

[181] For the American travels of Count Chassebœuf de Volney, consult Flint's _Letters_, in our volume ix, p. 237, note 121.

François Alexandre Frédéric, duc de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt (1747-1827), travelled in America during his exile, which was occasioned by the French Revolution, in whose early stages he had taken a prominent part. He was a friend to republican institutions, and his _Travels_ are replete with just and favorable accounts of American life and customs. His work appeared first in French, in 1798; the English edition was entitled, _Travels through the United States, the Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada in 1795-97_ (London, 1799).

Isaac Weld was an Irishman (1774-1856) whose American travels were undertaken in order to induce the immigration of his people to the United States. His excellent and accurate work, _Travels through the States of North America, and the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada (1795-97)_, (London, 1799), was much quoted and ran through several editions, including a translation into French.--ED.

[182] For other descriptions of Niagara Falls included in our series, see Evans's _Tour_, volume viii, pp. 174-179; Flint's _Letters_, volume ix, pp. 315-321; and Bullock's _Sketch_, volume xix, pp. 142-149.--ED.

[183] Mrs. Trollope, page 203, considers that the reason why the noise of the falls is not very great, is because they are not confined between high rocks, and I agree with her. Though the colossal Falls of Niagara may, doubtless, be called some of the greatest in the known world, yet Captain Back, in his "Journey to the Frozen Ocean," page 451, affirms, that the cataract, called by him "Parry's Fall," surpasses the former, and all others, in "splendour of effect."--MAXIMILIAN.

[184] See p. 169, for plan of Niagara Falls.--ED.

[185] Goat Island was purchased (1816) from the state by Augustus Porter (for whom see Evans's _Tour_, in our volume viii, p. 178, note 35), who pastured a flock of goats thereon. About 1816 the first bridge was built, which was carried away during the succeeding winter. That built in 1818 endured until 1856, when it was replaced by an iron structure.--ED.

[186] For Catlin, see our volume xxii, p. 32, note 9.--ED.

[187] See our volume xxii, p. 39, note 15, for Charles Bonaparte, prince of Musignano and Canino.--ED.

[188] See Plate 72, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.

[189] For the fall of this interesting eminence, see Bullock's _Sketch_, in our volume xix, p. 145, and note 13.--ED.

[190] The Devil's Hole is a small ravine about two miles below Suspension Bridge, on the American side of Niagara River. The defeat here mentioned did not occur during the Revolution, as Maximilian intimates, but at the time of Pontiac's Conspiracy (1763). A company of traders, crossing by the Lewiston-Fort Schlosser portage, was ambushed by a band of Seneca, and driven over the precipice. Reinforcements of troops from Fort Niagara met with a similar fate, and fell into an ambush, when all but eight were slain. The relics of this massacre were long in evidence in the vicinity.--ED.

[191] Lake Ontario is twice as deep as Lake Erie, and Volney considered it to be the crater of a volcano.--MAXIMILIAN.

[192] After their migration from North Carolina, the Tuscarora lived upon Oneida lands until the period of the American Revolution. When General John Sullivan raided the Iroquois territory (1779) he was ordered to spare the neutral Tuscarora; the British sympathizers among them fled to the English Fort Niagara, and after the war the majority of the tribe settled upon a tract a mile square, given them by the Seneca, two miles east of the fort. Later the Holland Land Company ceded to this tribe two square miles of contiguous territory, and still later the Tuscarora purchased 4,329 acres with the proceeds of a sale of their North Carolina lands. Here the majority of the tribe lives to this day. In 1813, their houses and church were burned by a raid of British Indians, whereupon the Tuscarora retreated to Oneida Castle, to return to their reservation at the close of the war. From 1838-46 there was agitation about removal, first to Wisconsin, later to Indian Territory. Of one band who went out (about 1846), a third died in a year, and many returned to their old homes. The Tuscarora are the most progressive Indians of the state of New York, having good farms and fine orchards; many desire to become citizens, and to have their lands allotted in severalty. See Bullock's _Sketch_, in our volume xix, p. 150, note 20.--ED.

[193] The Tuscarora mission was begun in 1805 by the New York Missionary Society, and for some years conducted by the American Board of Foreign Missions; in 1821 the charge of this mission was transferred to the Presbyterians. At the time of Maximilian's visit Reverend Joel Wood was the missionary, but he remained only one year (October, 1833-October, 1834). The few Tuscarora who had followed Joseph Brant to Canada after the Revolutionary War settled on Grand River, north of Lake Erie, in a township called from their name in the present county of Brant, Ontario.--ED.

[194] Maximilian here intends the Erie Canal, instead of Lake Erie. For a brief sketch of the building of this waterway, see Buttrick's _Voyages_,, in our volume viii, p. 88, note 37.--ED.