PREFACE. 



THE main object of the excursion, the results of which 

 are given in the following pages, was a purely scientific 

 one, viz. : the study of the Natural History of the north- 

 ern shore of Lake Superior. Another end proposed by 

 Professor Agassiz, was, to afford to those of the party 

 who were unaccustomed to the practical investigation of 

 natural phenomena, an opportunity of exercising them- 

 selves under his direction. 



The party was composed of the following gentlemen : 

 Prof. Agassiz and Dr. William Keller, instructors, and 

 Messrs. George Belknap and Charles G. Kendall, stu- 

 dents, of the Lawrence Scientific School ; Messrs. James 

 McC. Lea, GeorgeH. Timmins, and Freeman Tompkins, 

 of the Dane Law School ; Messrs. Eugene A. Hoffman, 

 Charles G. Loring, Jonathan C. Stone, and Jefferson 

 Wiley, of the senior class of Harvard College ; Messrs. 

 Joseph P. Gardner and J. Elliot Cabot, of Boston ; Drs. 

 John L. Le Conte and Arthur Stout, of New York ; and 

 M. Jules Marcou, of Paris. 



Interspersed throughout the Narrative are reports, care- 

 fully made at the time, of the Professor's remarks on 

 various points of Natural History, that seemed to him 



