between steamboat and canoe navigation, the distance being the same as from Buffalo to Detroit. The Erie steamboat now goes occasionally to Mackinaw and Green Bay, and never exceeds three days on the passage, which the canoes were fourteen in making. Huron afforded very few objects of interest to the travellers; its shores are uniformly level, and consequently dull and monotonous. No new plants were discovered to gratify the researches of the botanist, nor any geological phenomena observed, to extend the knowledge of the structure of the earth. Secondary limestone, filled with the usual reliquiæ, constitutes the great mass of the rock along the coast. Detached blocks of granite and of other primitive rocks are scattered here and there, in one of which crystals of staurotide, and in another place pieces of calcedony were found, and these were the only simple minerals which they discovered from one extent of the lake to the other. Mr Schoolcraft is somewhat perplexed with a granitic block which he found on the shore, containing globular pebbles of hornblende, and queries if it be a primitive breccia, or a granitic porphyry. We see no reason why either of these names is necessary, as hornblende is very often a proper constituent of granite. But if a distinctive name must be given, doubtless it should be porphyritic granite. Around Saganaw bay, the primitive formation appears to approach nearer the surface, the secondary limestone then giving place to sandstone, which disintegrates and forms sand banks and beaches, as on the sea shore. We know not that the Canadian shores of these northern lakes have been examined; when they are, they will probably be found to belong to the primitive formation, judging from the detached masses which are found on the American side. Mr Schoolcraft remarks, that the common accounts of the highly electrified state of the atmosphere about Saganaw bay are entirely erroneous, and that there is no reason whatever to believe, that the air in its vicinity contains a surcharge of electric fluid. Farther north an animal was killed, which he calls a brown rabbit, described in a note as a variety of the American Hare, the Lepus Americanus of Gmelin. In the description one or two of the distinctive marks are omitted, such as the white spots below the eyes and behind the cheeks, but it appears to correspond to the characters which belong to this species in all other respects, except that it is somewhat longer and has its ears

tipped with black, which is a characteristic of the Lepus Timidus, or common hare of Europe. We have noted this circumstance, as the distinctions between the animals of the genus Lepus in this country and in other parts of the world. have never been well defined Approaching within four leagues of Michilimackinac,' says our author, we perceived ourselves opposite the foot of the island of Bois Blanc, which takes its names from the Liriodendron tulipifera, [what right have the botanists thus to bid defiance to the rules of grammar,] by which it is in a great part covered,' and which is a strong indication of the superior mildness of the climate near the lakes: the island is in lat. 451°. Passing round this island,' proceeds Mr Schoolcraft, Michilimackinac first burst upon the view. Nothing can present a more picturesque or refreshing spectacle to the traveller, wearied with the lifeless monotony of a canoe voyage through lake Huron, than the first sight of this island, which rises from the watery horizon in lofty bluffs, imprinting a rugged outline along the sky, and capped with two fortresses, on which the American standard is seen conspicuously displayed. A compact town stretches along the narrow plain below the hills, and a beautiful harbor chequered with American vessels at anchor, and Indian canoes rapidly shooting across the water in every direction. There is no previous elevation of coast to prepare us for encountering the view of an island elevated more than three hundred feet above the water and towering into broken peaks, which would even present attractions to the eye of the solitary traveller, among the romantic and sublime scenes of the wilderness of Arkansaw.' We should exceed our limits were we to make a longer stop at this picturesque spot, but we recommend Mr. Schoolcraft's whole account of it to the attention of our readers. Like Detroit, it, that is, old Mackinaw, which is three leagues distant from the present, has been the theatre of many interesting events in the early history of the wilderIt was there that in 1671 Marquette began the first European settlement northwest of fort Frontenac on lake Ontario, and ever since it has been the seat of the most considerable fur trade in those parts. It is memorable also for the bloody massacre of the garrison by the Indians in 1763, and for the gallant assault which was made upon it by Col. Croghan during the late war. Mr Schoolcraft considers the island upon which the modern Mackinaw is built, as peculiar in its

ness.

geological structure, being composed of limestone of diffe ages, and of portions which mark the passage from one to other, with crystals of calcareous spar in the cavities, and so other minerals of the same nature imbedded in the mass; we see not from his description wherein it differs from limestone of the Harz and numerous other strata of the sa rock. An anomaly, however, of another kind, is pointed by him in his statistical account of it; which is, that wit population of nearly five hundred, it has neither preach schoolmaster, attorney, nor physician, which we wish might at least half true of all the towns in our country of the sa size. The etymology given of this name is, Missi great, a Mackinaw turtle, the island being supposed to resemble great turtle lying on the water.

The sault of St Marie interposes a barrier to the free na gation from lakes Huron and Michigan into lake Superio barges and canoes partly loaded can ascend it, but the wa never rises sufficiently to allow large vessels to pass. It was t site of another of the early garrisons of the French; and it m well be remarked, as it is by Mr Schoolcraft, that they disco ered a most extraordinary good judgment, as well as a mo thorough knowledge of the geography of the country in all t selections they made of places as points of defence; there scarce an instance, where it has been found expedient change them. While the party was there, the Indians a tempted to frighten them out of insisting upon the clain which they were instructed to make to a tract of land suff cient for a garrison, in virtue of a former cession to th French, but in consequence of the very firm and decisiv manner in which the attempt was received, they soon gave up and ceded the land demanded.

We are next introduced into lake Superior, and it would b injustice to our author to describe this, the grandest event the whole expedition, in any language but his own.

The morning (June 18) was clear and pleasant, with a gentl breeze blowing up the river, which while it filled our sails an relieved the men at the oars, produced an exhilirating effect upo our spirits, by its refreshing coolness, and we approached the lak with a feeling of impatient delight. The most enchanting view were presented in every direction, and we fully realized the jus tice of the remark made by Carver, "that the entrance into lak Superior affords one of the most pleasing prospects in the world.'

This entrance was now in full view, presenting a scene of beauty and magnificence which is rarely surpassed, even amid the rugged scenery of the north. The lake spread like a sea before us: toward the north we could discern across the bay the distant highlands, which border the Canadian shore of the lake, while on the south the mountain chain extending from the head of the river St Mary, westward, towered majestically into the air and presented a fine contrast to the boundless expanse of water at its base.'

But the traveller searches in vain along the borders of this stupendous lake for the picturesque scenery, which its fine entrance leads him to expect; long and lofty ridges of sand, or piles of shapeless rock, interchange with low sandy beaches from Iroquois point to Fond du lac. The few objects of note described by Mr Schoolcraft are interesting only in a geological view. A remarkable heap or bank of sand about three hundred feet high extends nine miles along the lake, which is divided into three distinct strata. The lowest, one hundred and fifty feet thick, is unmixed light yellow silicious sand; the middle, about eighty feet, is composed of the same substance, mixed with numerous pebbles of granite, hornblende, limestone, and quartz; and the upper like the lower with trunks of trees imbedded. It is the extent and height of this sand bank alone which make it remarkable. The arrangement of the strata and the manner of their accumulation is doubtless this: the lower unmixed part is the original sandstone which forms the bank of this part of the lake in a state of disintegration, the second layer has washed out from the bottom of the lake at the time of some great overflow, and the upper has blown on from time to time and enveloped the trees which it found growing there. Following the shore along westward, we soon come to the pictured rocks, as they are called, which is a range of sandstone of about the same height as the ridge just described, broken into various fantastic forms by the action of the elements. To judge both from the sketch and the description which Mr Schoolcraft has given of these rocks, they must bear a most marked resemblance to the sandstone formation on the Elbe above Dresden, which is called Saxon Switzerland. By contrasting pictures of the two, the resemblance will appear; and first of the pictured rocks of lake Superior. Surprising groups of overhanging precipices, towering walls, caverns, waterfalls, and prostrate ruins, which are here mingled in the most wonderful disorder, and burst

upon the view in ever varying and pleasing succession'-ar the objects selected by our author for his description of thes rocks. Reichard's of Saxon Switzerland places before us,— 'Chasms and loose rocks in the form of figures the most grotesque, summits and points elevated almost beyond the reach of sight, abysses of prodigious depth, rivulets, torrents and cascades, which are either engulphed, or foaming, rush forward on their course, grottos and caverns of all sizes. And this in fact is the common appearance of sandstone rocks, when laid bare to the pelting of the storms. A little farther onward the granite shows itself above the sandstone in an abrupt rock rising out of the lake to the height of two hundred feet, which is united with the shore by strata of red and grey sandstone, under which it dips and rises on the contiguous coast in high, rough, and broken peaks. From this point westward, granite is frequently seen rising from beneath the sandstone.

From the Sault de St Marie, to the Ontanagon or Coppermine river is 330 miles, which it took our party ten days to travel in their canoes. Here they were directed to stop and ascertain the truth of the accounts which Henry and others had given about the copper mines on the banks of this river, and particularly to examine the mass which was estimated by him to weigh six tons. The result of their examinations, as given by Mr Schoolcraft, is, that

the copper which is in a pure and malleable state, lies in connexion with a body of serpentine rock, the face of which it almost completely overlays and is also disseminated in masses and grains, throughout the substance of the rock. The surface of the metal, unlike most oxydable metals, which have suffered a long exposure to the atmosphere, presents a metallic brilliancy-the shape of the rock is very irregular-its greatest length three feet eight inches-its greatest breadth three feet four inches, making about eleven cubic feet, and containing of metallic matter not exceeding twenty two hundred pounds, but the quantity may be much diminished from what it was originally, as there are marks of chissels and axes upon it, and Henry speaks of having cut off an hundred pounds.'

Mr Schoolcraft does not determine whence it came, but thinks it must have been removed from its original bed. The obstacles to mining in this region which Henry had to encounter no longer exist, and it is difficult to conceive a reason which would prevent such operations, if skilfully and judiciously conducted, from being productive. Not a doubt can be