which we had observed at Sturgeon Bay and the contiguous west shore of Lake Michigan. The line of lake coast included in this remark is three hundred and twenty miles; during all which distance the coast seems, but only seems, to be the sport of the fierce gales and storms, for there is reason to believe that the formations of drift clay, sand, and gravel rest, at various depths, on a stratification of solid, permanent rock. To us, however, it proved a barren field for the collection of both geological and mineralogical specimens. There were gleaned some rolled specimens of organic remains, of no further use than to denote the occurrence of these in some part of a vast basin. There was a specimen of gypsum from Grand River. The few patches of iron sand I had noticed, were hardly worthy of record after the heavy beds of this mineral which we had passed in Lake Superior. The same remark may be made of the few rolled fragments of calcedonies, and other varieties of the quartz family, gleaned up along its shores, for neither of these constitute a reliable locality.

Of the flora and fauna we had been observant, but the sandy character of the mere coast line greatly narrowed the former, in which Captain Douglass found but little to preserve, beyond the

parnassia caroliniana and seottia cerna.* The fury of the waves renders it a region wholly unfitted to the whole tribe of freshwater shells. A petrifaction of the fagus ferruginia, brought from a spring on the banks of the St. Joseph's River by Gov. Cass, on his home route, on horseback, presented the petrifying process in one of its most perfect forms (vide p. 206). Surfeited with a species of scenery in which the naked sand dunes were often painful to the eye, from their ophthalmic influence, and of geological prostrations which seemed to lay the coast in ruins, we were glad to reach the solid rock formations, supporting, as they did, a soil favorable to green forests.

A partial eclipse of the sun had been calculated for the 5th of September (1820), to commence at seven o'clock, twenty minutes; but, though we were on the lake, and anxious to note it, the weather proved to be too much overcast, and no effects of it were observed. This eclipse was observed, according to the predictions, at Philadelphia.

The morning of the 8th proved calm, which permitted us to cross the mouth of Grand Traverse Bay. This piece of water is nine miles across, with an unexplored depth, and has some 300 Chippewas living on its borders. Six miles north of this point, we reached and crossed Little Traverse Bay, which is occupied by Ottawas. These two tribes are close confederates, speak dialects of the same language which is readily understood by both, and live on the most friendly terms. The Ottowas on the head of Little Traverse Bay, and on the adjoining coast of Lake Michigan-which, from its principal village, bears the names of Village of the Cross, and of Waganukizzie,† or L'Arbre Croche―are, to a great extent, cultivators of the soil, and have adopted the use of hats, and the French capot, having laid aside paints and feathers. They raise large quantities of Indian corn for the Mackinac market, and manufacture, in the season, from the sap of the acer saccharinum, considerable quantities of maple sugar, which is put up, in somewhat elongated bark boxes, called muckucks, in which it is carried to the same market. We found them, wherever they were encountered, a people of friendly manners and comity.

* Dr. John Torrey, Am. Journ. Science, vol. iv.

+ From Waganuk, a crooked or croched tree, and izzie, an animate termination, denoting existence or being, carrying the idea of its being charmed or enchanted.

We were now drawing toward the foot of Lake Michigan, at the point where this inland sea is connected, through the Straits of Michilimackinac, with Lake Huron. A cluster of islands, called the Beaver Islands, had been in sight on our left hand, since passing the coast of the Sleeping Bear, which are noted as affording good anchorage ground to vessels navigating the lake. It is twenty-five miles from the site of the old French mission, near L'Arbre Croche, to the end of point Wagoshance,* which is the southeast cape of the Straits of Michilimackinac, and nine miles from thence to the Island. Along the bleak coast of this storm-beaten, horizontal limestone rock, with a thin covering of drift, we diligently passed. Night overtook us as we came through the straits, hugging their eastern shore, and we encamped on a little circular open bay, long after it became pitchy dark. We had traversed a coast line of fifty-seven miles, and were glad, after a refreshing cup of tea and our usual meal, to retire to our pallets.

The next morning revealed our position. We were at the ancient site of old Michilimackinac-a spot celebrated in the early missionary annals and history of New France. This was, indeed, one of the first points settled by the French after Cadaracqui, being a missionary and trading station before the foundation of Fort Niagara, in 1678; for La Salle, after determining on the latter, proceeded, the same fall, up the lakes to this point, which he installed with a military element. The mission of St. Ignace had before been attempted on the north shore of the straits, but it was finally removed here by the advice of Marquette. On gazing at the straits, they were found to be agitated by a perfect gale. This gave time for examining the vicinity. It was found a deserted plain, overspread with sand, in many parts, with the ruins of former occupancy piercing through these sandy drifts, which gave it an air of perfect desolation. By far the most conspicuous among these ruins, was the stone foundation of the ancient fort, and the excavations of the exterior buildings, which had evidently composed a part of the military or missionary plan. Not a house, not a cultivated field, not a fence was to be seen. The remains of broken pottery, and pieces of black bottles, irri

* Little Fox Point. This word comes from Wagoush, a fox, and the denominative inflection a ainc or ains.

descent from age, served impressively to show that men had once eaten and drank here. It was in 1763, in the outbreak of the Pontiac war, that this fort, then recently surrendered to the English, was captured, by a coup-de-main, by the Indians. The English, probably doubting its safety, during the American Revolution, removed the garrison to the island, which had, indeed, furnished the name of Michilimackinac before; for the Indians had, ab initio, called the old post Peekwutinong, or Headland-place, applying the other name exclusively, as at this day, to the Gibraltar-like island which rises up, with its picturesque cliffs, from the very depths of Lake Huron. The sketch of this scene of desolation, with the Island in view, is given in the second volume of my Ethnological Researches, Plate LIII.

After pacing the plain of this ancient point of French settlement in every point, we returned to our tent about eleven o'clock A. M., and deemed it practicable to attempt the crossing to the island in a light canoe, for, although the gale was little if any abated, the wind blew fair. I concurred in the opinion of Captain Douglass that this might be done, and very readily assented to try it, leaving the men in the baggage canoe to effect the passage when the wind fell. It cannot be asserted that this passage was without hazard; for my own part, I had too much trust in my nature to fear it, and, if we were ever wafted on "the wings of the wind," it was on this occasion; our boatmen, volunteers for the occasion, reefing the sails to two feet, and we owed our success mainly to their good management. On rounding the Ottowa point, which is the south cape of the little harbor of 'Mackinac, our friends who had parted from us at Green Bay were among the first to greet us. By the union of these two parties, the circumnavigation of Lake Michigan had been completely made. The rate of travel along the line traversed by them was computed at fortyfive miles per day. They had been eight days on the route. The coast line traversed by Captain Douglass and myself, since quitting Chicago, is four hundred and thirty-nine miles, giving a mean of forty-three miles per diem, of which one entire day was lost by head winds.

CHAPTER XX.

Topographical survey of the northern shores of Green Bay and of the entire basin of Lake Michigan-Geological and Mineralogical indicia of the coast line-Era of sailing vessels and of the steamboat on the lakes-Route along the Huron coast, and return of the expedition to Detroit.

THE coast line traversed by the party detached from Green Bay on the 22d of August, under Mr. Trowbridge, extended from the north shore of Fox River to the entrance of the Monominee River, and thence around the Little and Great Bay de Nocquet, to the northwestern cape of the entrance of Green Bay. From the latter point, the northern shore of Lake Michigan was traced by the Manistic, and the other smaller rivers of that coast, to the northern cape of the Straits of Michilimackinac, and through these to Point St. Ignace and the Island of Michilimackinac. The line of survey, agreeably to their reckoning, embraced two hundred and eighty miles, thus closing the topographical survey of the entire coast line of the basin of Lake Michigan, and placing in the hands of Captain Douglass the notes and materials for a perfect map of the lake.*

Mr. Trowbridge, whom I had requested to note the features of its geology and mineralogy, presented me with labelled specimens of the succession of strata which he had collected on the route. These denoted the continuance of the calcareous, horizontal series

* It is to be regretted that Capt. Douglass, who, immediately on the conclusion of this expedition, was appointed to an important and arduous professorship in the U. S. Military Academy of West Point, could not command the leisure to complete and publish his map and topographical memoir of this part of the U. S. So long as there was a hope of this, my report of its geology, &c., and other data intended for the joint PUBLIC WORK, were withheld. But in revising this narrative, at this time, they are submitted in the Appendix. Prof. Douglass, of whose useful and meritorious life, I regret that I have no account to offer, died as one of the Faculty of Geneva College, October 21, 1849.