274 NATURAL HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICA, 



educated that I have yet met with : one, in particular, was a 

 well-informed, pleasing young man, a priest among them. I 

 learned from him that their settlement contains about six 

 hundred ; that they have a school, a public library, &c. ; that 

 they are going to exchange some land they now occupy for 

 some in the neighbourhood of Green Bay ; that they are epis- 

 copalians in religion, &c. We had also on board the captain 

 of the boat in which Miss Martineau visited the island of 

 Machinan, and a young man who acted as her guide over the 

 island. I was sorry not to be able to avail myself of his kind 

 offer to guide me, having only time to climb up to the fort to 

 enjoy the glorious view over the two lakes and their shores 

 and islands. 



The old fort of Michilimacinac was on the main land. The 

 Indians assembled there under pretence of ball-playing, and 

 threw the ball into the fort ; they then got the gate open under 

 pretence of seeking the ball : they entered, murdered the gar- 

 rison, and destroyed the fort. The British then built the old 

 fort of Machinan. The Americans have now a tolerable force 

 there, of which the British obtained possession during the late 

 war, but afterwards surrendered it to the Americans. It 

 would be the Gibraltar of these lakes. At this fort we took 

 on board Major Forsyth, who had been stationed here at the 

 Sault de St. Marie. 



Machinan is a small island, and the town also is small ; the 

 houses are old and French built ; many of them are deserted 

 and decaying. It is a most wonderful place for fish ; its white- 

 fish are really extremely delicious; and they take cat-fish one 

 hundred and seventy pounds in weight, while in Ontario the 

 heaviest cat-fish weigh only forty pounds. The French here 

 are a lazy worthless set, and so are the Canadians. I felt 

 quite disposed to have staid two or three days at Machinan, 

 and, having hired a birch-bark canoe, and a guide, crossed, 

 partly by land and partly by water, carrying the canoe over- 

 land, and just visited Lake Superior ; but I learned from Major 

 Forsyth, to whom General Brookes introduced me as soon as 

 we reached Machinan, that there had been a heavy fall of snow 

 on the 12th, and that it was too late in the season to under- 

 take the journey. Major Forsyth had himself suffered much 

 in getting to Machinan. 



During the present year, there has been an immense deal of 



