358 



A General Description of Lake Erie, Communicated by 

 Jdhh L Bigsby, M.D., &c. &c. 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



The following pages will present a rapid view of the position 

 and dimensions of Lake Erie, and of the leading features of its 

 vicinity. The course of the heights surrounding its tributary 

 streams are next described ; and then the shores, islands, and a 

 few of the rivers of this body of water. For topographical and 

 statistical details, not necessary to geological description, the 

 reader may consult with advantage the writings of Bouchette*, 

 Howisonf, GourlayJ, Darby§, and Kilbourne [|. 



Lake Erie has few of the fascinations of scenery to boast of, 

 apart from the large mass of waters it exhibits — in tranquillity, 

 or in motion, sometimes most vehement. It is only at its west 

 end that it is adorned by islands. The morasses, earthy 

 scaurs, or gentle uplands of its coasts, afg only remarkable for 

 their large walnut and buttonwood trees, which, in a dense 

 umbrageous belt, shut out all view of the interior from the tra- 

 veller on the lake, except at the partial clearances. 



Neither is the vicinity of this lake agreeable as a residence, 

 iii the western half, at least in the summer. The heat then, 

 although not thermometrically extreme, is peculiarly oppres- 

 sive, relaxing, and long continued. The steaming swamps^, 

 which are almost universal, are full of putrifying substances, 

 occasioning the bilious remittents there so prevalent. The 



* Topography of the Canadas. t Sketches of Upper Canada. 



% Statistical Account of Upper Canada. 

 § Tour from New York to Detroit. || Gazetteer of Ohio. 



% Clearances, by affording a free access of the air to swamps, greatly 

 diminish their size. It has been found also, in Ohio, that the progress of 

 cultivation tends, at the same time, to increase the dimensions of the 

 rivers. Thus, Todd's Fork of the Little Miami River was formerly often 

 dry in the summer, but is never so now ; and the same has taken place 

 with Kinnickinnick, in the County of Pickaway. Attention has been 

 drawn to these subjects by the frequent want of water for mills and navi- 

 gation.— Kilbournk. 



