SOURCE OF ST. PETER S RIVER. 161 



become so faint that, even without any load, we found it im- 

 possible to make him keep up with the rest of the horses. 

 The Indian undertook to take care of him for a few days, 

 and then lead him to the fort, which promise he faithfully 

 discharged. 



In the afternoon of the fifth of June, we reached Fort 

 Dearborn, (Chicago,) having been engaged eight days in 

 ti'avelling a distance of two hundred and sixteen miles, 

 making an average of twenty-seven miles per day. Our 

 estimate of the distance exceeds the usual allowance by 

 sixteen miles, on account of the circuitous route which we 

 took to avoid crossing the Elkheart. At Fort Dearborn 

 we stopped for a few days, with a view to examine the 

 country and make further preparations for the journey to 

 tlie Mississippi. 



In taking a retrospective view of the nature of the coun- 

 try travelled over, we find that from Fort Wayne to twenty 

 miles west of Devil river, it presents as it were two dis- 

 tinct surfaces. The first, or lower one, is a level moist 

 prairie covered with luxuriant herbage ; the second, or upper 

 one, is abruptly elevated twenty-five or thirty feet above 

 the prairie land, and consists of a succession of flat ridges, 

 uniform in height, but of unequal breadth, that are fre- 

 quently disconnected by narrow straits of prairie land; 

 from this circumstance the lower level presents a continu- 

 ous surface, while the upper one is broken into distinct 

 ridges insulated in the midst of the prairie. The soil of 

 the ridges is poor and gravelly, covered with a thin growth 

 of scrubby oaks ; it appears to have been occasioned by what 

 has been termed an ancient alluvial formation, (probably 

 similar to those extensive deposites which are said to con- 

 stitute the great plains that are observed in South America ;) 

 this formation having been afterwards divided by valleys 



Vol. I. 21 



