way from Barton to Lake Memphremagog; and that large quantities of forest trees were strewed over the surface of the lake. The hard tough mud in the bottom of Mud Lake, was all forced out and carried away, and was seen scattered in smaller and larger masses-some, of the size of haycocks-for a great distance along the progress of the torrent, and over the adjoining fields.

Several of the workmen informed me that when the northern barrier of Long Lake gave way, and while the waters rushed down the declivity into Mud Lake, the convulsion shook the earth like a mighty earthquake; and that the noise was louder. than the loudest thunder, and was heard for many miles around. One of them, whose house was more than five miles from the spot, told me that the noise there was so loud that the cattle came running home, with the most obvious marks of terror and alarm; and that his family supposed, until his return, that there had been a tremendous earthquake, accompanied with loud thunder. The noise and agitation were also very great, while the torrent made its way downward, from Mud Lake to Keene Corner, and, even during its progress in the more level region, greatly alarmed all the surrounding country.

The waters of Long Lake were undoubtedly calcareous. I saw on the bottom many siliceous rocks; but the fissures of these rocks were frequently filled with deposits of limestone. There were numerous masses or rocks of limestone, of a bluish black colour, occasionally imbedding pebbles of a different colour and genus. Some of these masses were exceedingly hard and firm, others were only brittle, while others were friable, and others still were heaps of bluish black limestone dust,—the embryos of rocks which had not yet received the cohesion necessary to bind them into solid masses, when the matrix in which they were forming was dissolved. Probably the black sponge mud of Long Lake was chiefly of this character; as this very substance, when wet, has a similar appearance. In various places on the bottom of the lake, are deposits of a friable white substance, which is almost pure carbonate of lime. This substance, as we shall have reason to see, was much more abundant before the emptying of the lake. Had a skilful mineralogist

been with me, he might doubtless have made important discoveries.

The bottom of the lake was in some places boggy, but generally so dry that we could walk over it without difficulty. It was extensively grown over with sedge and other weeds, and in many places with shrubs and young trees. The original waterlevel of the lake was generally discoverable along the shores. The same rivulet still flows in on the west side, which originally supplied its waters; but it now flows out at the northern end into Mud Lake. It is about a yard over; and, as no reason can be given why it should have diminished, I conclude that this was the size of the outlet of Long Lake. The flood left obvious traces of its violence within the bed of the lake. At the southern end, the water on the shoal, not more than 10 or 12 feet deep, rushing down the pitch into the deeper part of the lake, swept down a considerable mass of earth and rocks, and near the middle of the pitch, from east to west, formed an excavation, or trench, about one hundred yards in length, narrower and shallow at its commencement, but widening and deepening all the way to the bottom, where it is several rods in width. On both shores of the lake, the force of the water tore away large masses of earth, forced rocks out of their original bed, and, in various instances, laid bare the surface of extensive ledges of rock, which had been previously imbedded in earth; leaving them projecting a considerable distance beyond the line of the shore. These effects were most marked towards the northern end. About twenty rods from that end, an excavation, or trench, commences in the bottom of the lake, and continues to widen and deepen, until it coincides with the deep gulley at the outlet.

The surface of Mud Lake is at least 30 feet lower, in the opinion of the workmen, than before, and has not more than half of its original extent. The soft mud from the bottom of Long Lake, flowed into Mud Lake *, and took the place of the hard, tough mud, which originally formed its bed. So large was the supply, that Mud Lake is now shallow-having been

* This lake was without a name, until this event procured for it this less poetical than appropriate designation.

filled up at the bottom, as well as cut off at the top by the abrasion of the torrent. I saw perhaps twenty of the trees, which had been left in it thirteen years before, standing up from its bottom, in various directions; and the length of their stems above the water, indicated that the depth was moderate. Before the draining of Long Lake, Mud Lake had no lime; but large quantities of the white friable carbonate of lime were brought down and deposited within and around it, so as to render the manufacture of quick-lime a regular employment for several of the inhabitants.

Mr Blodget, the proprietor of the mill destroyed in Barton, instituted a suit against some of the individuals employed in letting out the waters of Long Lake. In the course of the trial, the whole history of the event was brought to light. He laid his damages at 1000 dollars; but, pendente lite, compromised the matter for 100, on condition that each party should pay his own costs.

ness.

It was doubtless a favourable circumstance, that Long Lake was drained, while the country on Barton River was a wilderFrom the singular configuration of the adjacent ground, it is certain that its contents would sooner or later have been emptied into Mud Lake; and had the discharge been deferred until the country had been well settled, the injury would have been incalculable. At the time when the event occurred no material injury was done, and an essential service rendered the community; as the bed of the lake furnishes an advantageous site for a road leading to the country eastward of Glover, which the hills had previously rendered impracticable. Such a road had been seriously proposed when I was there; and my only objection to the measure lay in the fact, that, by effacing the vestiges of desolation, it would violate the rights of philosophical enquiry.

This event appears to confirm an opinion, extensively entertained in this country, respecting the changes which various parts of its surface have in former periods undergone. Valleys are here and there found, with streams of water passing through them, surrounded on all sides by high grounds, except a very narrow passage for the stream to enter, and another for it to escape; and in both, the whole appearance of the ground indi

cates that the high ground actually met, in some former period; that the valley was originally a lake; and that its water was discharged by a waterfall. There is so much resemblance between the bed of Long Lake and some of these places which I have examined, that I cannot doubt the correctness of this opinion. Had the waters of that lake been discharged two centuries earlier, its bed, and the gulley which it formed, would have been filled with a thrifty forest; and the evidence that it had ever been a lake would have been no more satisfactory than we now possess, that the places to which I have alluded were once filled with water. We now know the fact, however, that lakes may be suddenly and finally emptied, and their beds changed to fertile valleys, so as to lose, in no great length of time, all traces of the immediate action of water.

Several individuals, well acquainted with the country, informed me that the ground at one extremity of Lake Willoughby, which lies a few miles east of Barton, is formed like that at the northern extremity of Long Lake; and that its waters could be discharged with even less labour, than were those of the latter. Lake Willoughby is about seven miles long, about three miles wide in the broadest part, and very deep; and its waters, if thus discharged, must flow south-eastward, through the valley of the Presumpsick, into the Connecticut. Could the discharge be achieved without too much hazard, it would be an incalculable advantage to a large extent of country; as a long range of towns in the neighbourhood of this lake, are separated from the Connecticut by a chain of pathless mountains, through which no road can be formed, except over the emptied bed of Lake Willoughby, and are thus compelled to find their market down the valley of the Presumpsick; a fact which has almost entirely prevented their settlement.

After we had examined the bed of Long Lake, and the ravages which its waters had occasioned, as long and as minutely as our time would permit, we returned down the gulley, and arrived at our inn at 3 o'clock, where we sat down to a meal rendered welcome by laborious exercise and the fasting of ten hours. Immediately after, bidding four of my companions adieu, I rode down the river in company with the fifth, to the village of Barton. Our course was on the eastern bank of the

gulley, and every step of the way I could witness the desolation of the torrent. Taking the whole excavation for the twelve miles in which I followed it, it is the highest exhibition of the effects of physical force, instantaneously exerted, which I have yet seen.

See Plate III. for a Plan of the Lakes, illustrative of the details above given.

Overland Arctic Expedition.

As any notice, however short, of the scientific doings of this enterprise, cannot fail to prove acceptable, we now add the following details to those already communicated.

66

"FORT FRANKLIN, GREAT BEAR LAKE, "February 6. 1826.

Nothing of any importance has occurred since I wrote you last, except that we have received a friendly message from the Esquimaux, through the Sharp Eyes, a neighbouring tribe, who frequent Fort Good Hope, the most northerly of the Company's posts. On the 29th of November last, the S. W. quarter of the sky was cloudless, but of a pure emerald-green colour (compared at the moment with Syme's book), soon fading away into mountain-green. The rays of the sun setting to the S.S.E. at the same time tinged some clouds gold-yellow, &c. The aurora has not been so frequent, and our observations of course upon it are not so interesting, as at Fort Enterprise As far as they go, they confirm the few general remarks then hazarded, although I think not favourable, in general, to Hansteen's theory. With regard to facts, Captain Franklin's observations and Hansteen's seem to agree. The Edinburgh Philosophical Journal for March 1825 reached us last month, and has proved a great treat to us. I am glad to see it go on so vigorously.

"We expect, if every thing prospers with us, and at present we have no reason to fear any misadventure, that we shall reach England early in November 1827. This is rather too quick a movement for the purposes of science. Even a cursory view of the geology of the Rocky Mountains skirting Mackenzie's River OCTOBER-DECEMBER 1826.

L