SOURCE OF ST. PETEr's RIVER. 359 



tremity of the lake, commanding an extensive prospect, 

 adorned with this beautiful sheet of water. The country, 

 as we advanced, evidently became more elevated, but no 

 hills of any magnitude were visible except the bluffs of 

 rivers and rivulets. The elevation to which they attain, 

 frequently equals, and sometimes exceeds, one hundred feet. 

 The precipices, to which these bluffs give rise, are the 

 boundaries of extensive and undulated plains, destitute of 

 woods ; trees are only seen skirting the banks of the 

 water-courses. Above the lake the bluffs diminish in 

 height; those along the valley of the St. Peter not exceed- 

 ing forty feet ; in some cases they disappear, and gentle 

 slopes blend gradually the prairie and the valley of the 

 river. At the upper end of the lake, the St. Peter has lost 

 all its characters ; it is a rivulet of from twenty to thirty 

 feet wide ; its bed is very much obstructed with high grass 

 and wild rice ; its waters are almost stagnant. Five leagues 

 above this, a brook from the right bank joins with the St. 

 Peter ; this is called the Hra WihkS^n, or Spirit Mountain, 

 from the name of a hill near which it rises. The primitive 

 rocks are again seen in place, scattered here and there 

 across the valley ; one of these was remarkable for the 

 beauty of its feldspar, which is very lamellar ; it has an 

 easy cleavage, and is intermixed with quartz, giving it al- 

 most the appearance of a graphic granite. As we advanced, 

 the rocks assumed a more decided character, and were 

 found to be principally either a common or a sienitic gra- 

 nite. Besides those in place, vast numbers of fragments of 

 primitive rocks, presenting little or no alteration, lie scat- 

 tered in every direction, and attest that this has been the 

 seat of a great destruction. An Indian family were met 

 near the banks of the river, who stated that they had de- 

 scended it in order to ascertain the prospects of the ensu- 



