with prairies and woodland, and is moderately elevated, but not hilly. Lakes and springs of pure water are the lakes; but the great and ultimate market, for all the extensive tract of country bordering on the lakes, must be New-York. To give you a minute and full description of the country would require more care and deliberation than my present avocations will admit: but rest assured, that I never travelled over a more excellent tract of country than that which lies between this place and Lake Michigan. In a south and westerly course from the Huron to the St. Joseph, is, certainly, one of the most beautiful districts, considering its natural state, to be seen, I believe, in America. The country is undulating, the prairies dry and evidently salubrious, interspersed with beautiful lakes of excellent water, and bordered with fine forests, at intervals, resembling oak orchards, and groves, planted by the hand of man. The lakes contain abundance of fish, are of various dimensions, from one to six miles in circumference, with fine outlets, which meander through, and water the surrounding country. The country, generally speaking, may be called open; affording a variety of well-timbered land, and prairies, sometimes interspersed with tall oaks and hickory, and varying in dimension, from one to six miles in circumference; bordered with lofty and dense forests, bountifully supplied with every variety of excellent timber, consisting chiefly of maple, hickory, oak, beach, walnut, white wood, bass wood, &c. It was during the latter part of August when I passed through, and the prairies were literally covered with flowers of the richest hues, from the lilly-white to the imperial purple, rich orange, crimson, and pink. The growth of vegetation is remarkably luxuriant, and the streams abound with the purest water, running over gravelly beds, and evidently issuing from springs, from their extraordinary coldness. As an evidence of the fine grazing which the country affords, the person who supplied the people attending the treaty at Chicago, with fresh beef, drove about two hundred head from Brownstown to Chicago, a distance of upwards of three hundred miles, in eighteen days, in the month of August; and it is a remarkable fact, that the beef was better when it reached the latter place, than when it left the former. Our horses, also, lost very little on the journey, notwithstanding they were driven hard, and had not a mouthful of grain of any kind, during the whole journey. I can say very little about the mineralogy of the country, as the rapid manner in which we travelled, precluded the possibility of examination. Generally speaking, we observed very few stones of any kind, except in one instance, about one hundred and thirty miles from Detroit, we passed over a considerable extent (about one mile,) covered with large pieces of sand or free stone, varying in thickness from three to six or eight inches, abundant, and even in the driest seasons furnish an exuberant supply. It is watered by the St. Joseph of lake Michigan, by Grand River, and by several considerable streams of less note, all of which are of a clear and healthful character. The St. Joseph is a fine navigable river, whose head waters approach within two days' ride of Lake Erie. It is the most considerable tributary stream of Lake Michigan. It was a subject of regret to me that my continued illness prevented me from returning with this party, and finally induced me to relinquish the idea of an overland journey. After a detention of several weeks, I embarked on board the schooner Decatur at Chicago, on the 23d of September, reached Michilimackinac on the 30th, and returned to Detroit on the 6th of October, having been absent a little more than three months. All the gentlemen, with whom I have since conversed respecting the character of the grant, have expressed themselves in terms of high approbation of the qualities of the soil, the nature and growth of timber, the general face of the country, and its adaptation to the purposes of agriculture and grazing. They speak with admiration of the exuberance of the growth of native grasses which covered the prairies at this season, the pleasing and of remarkably even surface, from three to six, eight, and ten feet square. The soil appears to be extremely warm and rich, being, in many places, a deep, rich, black loam, mixed with small gravel. The prairies, evidently, to my mind, owe their present state to the effect of fire, which is periodically set by the Indians, either accidentally or intentionally. I am convinced, that they were, originally, covered with timber, from the circumstance of having observed considerable tracts covered with dry standing trees, burnt at the roots and exhibiting evident marks of the effects of the destructive element. Moreover, how could these small prairies be bordered with such elegant and dense forests, without any apparent cause for this difference, either in the quality of the soil, or any other natural circumstance. aspect which many parts of the country derive from the frequent occurrence of small lakes only a few miles in circumference, and above all, of the clearness and purity of the water which rises in this portion of our Western Country, and traverses its surface in the form of innumerable small rivers, brooks, and springs. CHAPTER XVIII. Observations, interspersed with Anecdotes, illustrative of Indian Customs and Character. THE Occasion of the journey whose details we have now closed, and the number of Indians of different nations, who were for so considerable a time exposed to our daily observation and scrutiny, may perhaps sanction a few remarks upon their more obvious mental and corporeal characteristics, more especially their manners and customs. But it is a subject which we approach with diffidence. We are not confident that any thing can be offered which will be new, and we are solicitous to present nothing which does not bear the stamp of authenticity. To investigate the subject of the history and traditions of the Indians, would require more space, and better means of observation and comparison, than we can at present command. The collection of the traditions existing among the Indians is of itself a labour that demands years. The comparison of these traditions with the observations of the discoverers and early French, English, Spanish, and Scandinavian writers upon the |