We should have been pleased to have had a more particula account of these boulders, which Mr Schoolcraft speaks o having seen upon the borders of the northern lakes, and whic from all accounts, are scattered very widely over those regions If the facts in regard to them were collected, they might throw some light upon the history of these inland seas, and possibly afford some grounds for determining the period of the grea catastrophe, by which they were formed. Were they closely examined, they might probably be traced to their original places, as those upon the Jura and the banks of the Aar have been; perhaps they would confirm Mr Hayden's theory of a great northeast current. The appearances around Green Bay, particularly near the rivers which it recieves from the chain of mountains in which the Ontanagon rises, indicate very decidedly that copper abounds in the angle between lakes Superior and Michigan. A brilliant specimen of native copper, ten or twelve pounds in weight, was brought to Mr Schoolcraft by an Indian, who

'related that passing in his canoe during the afternoon of a beautiful summer's day, across Winnebago lake, when the sun was just visible above the tops of the trees, and a delightful calm prevailed over the face of the waters, he espied at a distance in the lake before him a beautiful form standing in the water. Her eyes shone with a brilliancy that could not be endured, and she held in her hand a lump of glittering gold. He immediately paddled towards the attractive object, but as he came near he could percieve that it was gradually altering as to its shape and complexion; her eyes no longer shone with brilliancy-her face lost the hectic glow of life, her arms imperceptibly disappeared; and when he came to the spot where she stood, it was a monument of stone, having a human face, with the fins and tail of a fish. He sat a long while in amazement, fearful either to touch the super-human object or to go away and leave it; at length, having made an offering of the incense of tobacco, and addressed it as the guardian angel of his country, he ventured to lay his hand upon the statue, and finally lifted it into his canoe. Then sitting in the other end of the canoe with his back towards the miraculous statue, he paddled gently towards the shore, but was astonished, on turning round to find nothing in his canoe, but a large lump of copper, which I now present to you.'

How can it be said, that the aborigines of our continent are a stupid race, when they have a thousand such fictions showing the liveliest imagination?

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'-are the objects selected by our author for his description of these 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

entertained that the metal abounds there, and would probably be found to be accompanied by tin. From the mouth of the Ontonagon to the Fond du lac are one hundred and seventy miles, making the whole length on the American shore five hundred miles. The Canadian is estimated at twelve hundred, and the whole circumference at seventeen hundred miles, and its medium depth, according to Darby, nine hundred feet. It has several large and well wooded islands. The most interesting of these is the Island of Yellow sands, about which the Indians have many fine fanciful tales,

⚫ that its shores are covered with a heavy shining yellow sand, which is gold, but the guardian spirit of the island will not permit any of it to be carried away. To enforce his commands he has drawn together upon it, myriads of eagles, hawks, and other birds of prey, who by their cries warn him of any intrusions upon the domain, and assist with their claws and beaks to expel the enemy. He has also called from the depths of the lake, large serpents of the most hideous forms, who lie thickly coiled upon the golden sands and hiss defiance to the steps of the invader,—that an attempt was once made by some of their nation to carry off a quantity of the glittering sand, when a gigantic spirit strode on the water, and in a voice of thunder commanded them to bring it back.'

As this lake is still so rarely visited, and so little is known about it, which is entitled to credit, we give an extract from Mr Schoolcraft's general remarks upon it.

The southern coast receives thirty tributary rivers, some of which exceed an hundred and fifty miles in length. Of these the Ontonagan, Montreal, Mauvaise, Bois Brulé, and St Louis are the largest, and communicate with the waters of the Mississippi. The coast is sandy from Point Iroquois to the pictured rocks; then rocky to the foot of the Fond du lac with occasional plains of sand, and then sandy and without hills to the head of the lake. The forest trees are white and yellow pine, hemlock, spruce, birch, poplar and oak, with a mixture of elm, maple, and ash, upon the banks of the rivers. The coast is very elevated, in some places mountainous, generally sterile and dangerous to navigate. It is subject to storms and sudden transitions of temperature and to fogs and mists, which are often so dense as to obscure objects at a short distance. It has a warm atmosphere during the summer, the mean heat for June being 66°, and for July 64°. temperature of the water 61°. The winter is long and frightful.' In regard to the geological formation, we learn from him, that a secondary sandstone forms the whole southern coast, through which the granite on which it rests occasionally ap

The mean

pears, and that prase chalcedony, cornelian, jasper, opal, agate, sardonyx, zeolith, and serpentine, all silicious except the last two, with iron, lead, and copper, are the only simple minerals imbedded in it. This we do not consider as indicative of a very attractive field for geological investigations and mineral discovery,' as our author does; indeed it would be difficult to find a spot which promises less.

and

Beyond lake Superior the narrative becomes totally barren of interest, but its dulness is no fault of the author, it is wholly chargeable to the country where he travels, which was very aptly called by La Hontan, the fag end of the world.' After proceeding a short distance up the St Louis river, the company divided, a part still continuing to follow its course, a part striking straight across to Sandy lake. Mr Schoolcraft accompanied the latter, which was composed of Lieut. Mackay, Mr Dotey, Mr Trowbridge, Mr Chase, eight soldiers, two Indian guides, and an interpreter. Four miles of ponds and marshes, in which the mud was half leg deep, succeeded by as many more of open, dry, sandy, barrens; terminating in a thick forest of hemlock and spruce, and a regular alternation again of swamps, mud, bog, windfalls, and stagnant water, in the whole course of which, not a dry spot to rest upon could be found, were among the agrémens of the journey, which became peculiarly interesting, when they found that the guides were ignorant of the way and were leading them they knew not whither. This circumstance gave rise to an incident, which must have more than compensated for the anxiety occasioned by losing their way, and as it serves to explain the manner in which the Indians communicate intelligence to their friends, during their marches through the trackless forests, and as also to show an uniformity of customs among the different nations, we extract the account of it.

To leave a memorial of our journey for the information of such of their tribe, as should happen to fall upon their track, our Indian guides traced out with their knives upon birch bark, the following hieroglyphics-Lieut Mackay, with a sword to signify that he was an officer-Mr Dotey, with a book, they having understood that he was an attorney; myself with a hammer, I being called by them Paw-gwa-be-caw-a-ga, the destroyer of rocksto these were added a tortoise and a prairie hen, to denote that these have been killed-three smokes, that our encampment consisted of three fires-eight muskets, that this was the number armed-three hacks upon a pole leaning NW., that we were go