SOURCE OF ST. Peter's river. 157 



last twelve miles of our road had been very dangerous on 

 account of the numerous deep holes formed in it ; to these 

 may be added the many superficial roots that projected 

 from the beech trees, in every direction, and that exposed 

 the horses to frequent stumbling. The forest was almost ex- 

 clusively composed of the finest growth of beech ; on some of 

 the higher grounds we found, in great plenty, the partridge or 

 fox-berry, (Gaultheria procumbens,) with its aromatic red 

 fruit, in a state of perfect maturity ; it was accompanied by 

 the whortleberry in full blossom. We saw this day the first 

 white pine, and in some places this tree was very abundant. 

 We had been following for some time the valley of a small 

 stream, called by the French, Riviere du Chemin, (Trail 

 river,) but on approaching near to its mouth, our path 

 winded to the south, and we found ourselves at the base of 

 a sand-hill of about twenty feet in height ; the fog which 

 arose behind it, and the coolness of the air warned us of our 

 approach to the lake, and on turning along the base of the 

 hill we discovered ourselves to be on the beach of Lake 

 Michigan. The scenery changes here most suddenly ; in- 

 stead of the low, level and uniformly green prairies, through 

 which we had been travelling for some time past, or of the 

 beech swamp which had offered us such difficulties during 

 the last four hours of our ride, we found ourselves transport- 

 ed, as it were, to the shores of an ocean. We were near to 

 the southern extremity of the lake ; the view, towards the 

 north, was boundless ; the eye meeting nothing but the vast 

 expanse of water which spread like an ocean, its surface at 

 that time as calm and unruffled as though it were a sheet of 

 ice. Towards the south, the prospect was limited to a few 

 hundred yards, being suddenly cut off by a range of low 

 sand-hills, which arose to a height varying from twenty to 

 forty feet, in some instances rising perhaps to upwards of one 



