SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. 3^5 



Lewey's lake is four or five miles in circumference, perhaps a 

 little less, and is connected by a short rocky thoroughfare, with 

 two small lakes, called "Long" and "Round," or, in the Indian 

 tongue, Petbekis and Petquokmus, which are pronounced with a 

 kind of indistinct, gutteral cough. At the point which divides 

 one of these latter bodies of water from Bis: lake, there is an In- 

 dian village of two hundred inhabitants and eighteen houses, or 

 thereabouts. Seldom are more than half the people at home. The 

 settlement is called " Peter Denny's Point." The Indians have a 

 small Catholic church, similar to the one at Oldtown, a fine, new 

 school-house capable of seating twice as many children as there 

 are in town, and a capacious town hall where dances and weddings 

 are conducted. I have been thus particular in noticing this abo- 

 riginal settlement because it is omitted from Chase's new map of 

 Maine. There are few points of interest along the northern shore 

 of Big lake. A little way up the lake is a flourishing farm, which 

 confirms what I have previously said, viz : that under a favorable 

 combination of circumstances fair farms can be made in this dis- 

 trict. The distance from Grand Lake stream, which is the head of 

 Big lake, to Princeton, is variously estimated at a dozen miles and 

 more, the steamer performing the trip in a little less than three 

 hours, with many stops for examination of the shores. So that 

 the short journey from Calais to the fine salmon trout fishing on 

 Grand Lake stream, can now be accomplished as easily as any trip 

 of equal distance in more thickly settled districts of the country. 

 The land around the head of Big lake is covered with pine of fair 

 growth, except near the water, where the pine gives way to 

 small hardwood, such as Acer rubrum, usually called "white ma- 

 ple," notwithstanding the Latin specific name ; Populus tremu- 

 loides and P. grandidentata or Aspen and Toothed Poplar. The 

 water vegetation is remarkable. The shallow waters »along the 

 shores are filled with a large growth of Scirpus palustrjs or Bull- 

 rush. Very many square rods at the mouth of Grand Lake stream 

 are covered with magnificent specimens of this imposing rush, and 

 a stranger would find it diflScult to paddle a canoe in the stream at 

 this point, so completely is the mouth blockaded by these thick 



stalks. 



Several undetermined species of Algae and various other water 

 plants are plentiful at the steamboat-landing. Saguittaria varia- 

 bilis, Eng., including two strongly marked varieties, S. hetero- 



