that is, wanderers about the country, braggadocios, or fops. It can hardly be classed with the popular games of amusement, by which skill and dexterity are acquired. I have generally found the chiefs and graver men of the tribes, who encouraged the young men to play ball, and are sure to be present at the customary sports, to witness, and sanction, and applaud them, speak lightly and disparagingly of this game of hazard. Yet it cannot be denied that some of the chiefs, distinguished in war and the chase, at the West, can be referred to as lending their example to its fascinating power." See also his History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes, Part II. p. 72. Page 352. To the Pictured Rocks of sandstone. The reader will find a long description of the Pictured Rocks, in Foster and Whitney's Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, Part II. p. 124. From this I make the following extract: "The Pictured Rocks may be described, in general terms, as a series of sandstone bluffs extending along the shore of Lake Superior for about five miles, and rising, in most places, vertically from the water, without any beach at the base, to a height varying from fifty to nearly two hundred feet. Were they simply a line of cliffs, they might not, so far as relates to height or extent, be worthy of a rank among great natural curiosities, although such an assemblage of rocky strata, washed by the waves of the great lake, would not, under any circumstances, be destitute of grandeur. To the voyager, coasting along their base in his frail canoe, they would, at all times, be an object of dread; the recoil of the surf, the rock-bound coast, affording, for miles, no place of refuge,-the lowering sky, the rising wind, all these would excite his apprehension, and induce him to ply a vigorous oar until the dreaded wall was passed. But in the Pictured Rocks there are two features which communicate to the scenery a wonderful and almost unique character. These are, first, the curious manner in which the cliffs have been excavated, and worn away by the action of the lake, which, for centuries, has dashed an ocean-like surf against their base; and, second, the equally curious manner in which large portions of the surface have been colored by bands of brilliant hues. "It is from the latter circumstance that the name, by which these cliffs are known to the American traveller, is derived; while that applied to them by the French voyageurs (Les Portails) is derived from the former, and by far the most striking peculiarity. "The term Pictured Rocks has been in use for a great ength of time; but when it was first applied, we have been unable to discover. It would seem that the first travellers were more impressed with the novel and strik ing distribution of colors on the surface, than with the astonishing variety of form into which the cliffs themselves have been worn. . "Our voyageurs had many legends to relate of the pranks of the Menni-bojou in these caverns, and, in answer to our inquiries, seemed disposed to fabricate stories, without end, of the achievements of this Indian deity." Page 378. Toward the sun his hands were lifted. In this manner, and with such salutations, was Father Marquette received by the Illinois. See his Voyages et Découvertes, Section V. THE END. Owen Meredith's Poems. $1.00. Owen Meredith's Lucile. $1.00. Sydney Dobell's Poems. $1.00. Bowring's Matins and Vespers. $1.00. Horace. Translated by Theodore Martin. $1.00. Mrs. Jameson's Diary. $1.00. Mrs. Jameson's Sketches of Art. $1.00. Mrs. Jameson's Legends of the Madonna. $1.00. Mrs. Jameson's Italian Painters. $1.00. |