SOURCE OF ST. PETEr's RIVER. 185 



all that we have heard and read, we cannot hesitate in as- 

 serting it as our opinion, that no lead has as yet been dis- 

 covered on the Mei'rimeg or Mississippi in a metalliferous 

 limestone ;* but that, wherever it has been found, it has al- 

 ways been in an alluvion, and never in regular veins or 

 beds, nor even in masses, which might be considered 

 as coeval with the substances in which they are im- 

 bedded. 



On both banks of the Kishwake, not far from its mouth, 

 there are many mounds in every respect similar to those 

 met with on Fox river ; but scattered along the bank with- 

 out any apparent order. Mr. Say counted upwards of 

 thirty of these mounds. It is probable that they were for- 

 merly the cemeteries of a large Indian population which 

 resided along the banks of the Kishwake, and which had 

 perhaps its principal village at the beautiful confluence of 

 this stream with Rock river. 



In travelling over a prairie country the party were often 

 obliged to lengthen or shorten their day's journey, in or- 

 der to accommodate themselves to the scarcity of water 

 and wood. The afternoon of the 14th of June we en- 

 camped at three o'clock, as the distance to the next camp- 

 ing ground would have led us too far into the evening. 

 The afternoon was employed in taking observations for 

 longitude, and in making such repairs and alterations in 



• By metalliferous limestone, we allude to that in which the lead- 

 mines of Cumberland and Derbyshire in England, of Vedrin in Bel- 

 gium, &c. are found. This limestone is by most geologists considered as 

 older than the coal, and probably in many instances connected with 

 transition formations ; according to Conybeare and Phillips, it is 

 placed, under the name of mountain limestone, between the old red 

 sandstone formation and the coal measures. (Vide Geology of Eng- 

 land and Wales, London, 1822, part 1, plate, fig. o.) 



Vol. I. 24 



