INDIAN LEGEND. 11 



The scenery was very pretty, the river flow- 

 ino- in several channels round wooded islets ; alone^ 

 the banks were fine rounded hills, some heavily 

 timbered, others bare and green. When we reached 

 Lake Pippin, an expansion of the Mississippi, some 

 seven or eight miles long, and perhaps a mile in 

 width, we found a most delightful change from the 

 sultry heat we had experienced when shut up in the 

 narrow channel. Here the breeze blew freshly over 

 the water, fish splashed about on every side, and 

 could be seen from the boat, and we were in the 

 midst of a beautifal landscape. Hills and woods sur- 

 round the lake ; and, about half way, a lofty cliff, 

 called the " Maiden's Eock," stands out with bold 

 face into the water. It has received its name from an 

 old legend that an Indian maiden, preferring death to 

 a hated suitor forced upon her by her relatives, leaped 

 from the top, and was drowned in the lake below. 

 Beyond Lake Pippin the river became more shallow 

 and difiicult, and we were so continually delayed by 

 running aground that we did not reach St. Paul until 

 several hours after dark. 



St. Paul, the chief city of the State of Minnesota, 

 is the great border town of the North Western States. 

 Beyond, collections of houses called cities dwindle 

 down to even a single hut — an outpost in the wil- 

 derness. One of these which we passed on the road, 

 a solitary house, uninhabited, rejoiced in the name of 

 " Breckenridge City ;" and another, " Salem City," 

 was little better. 



From St. Paul a railway runs westward to St. 



