SOURCE OF ST. Peter's river. 365 



river into the Red river of Lake Winnepeek, whose wa- 

 ters, as is well known, flow towards Hudson's Bay. The 

 space between Lakes Travers and Big Stone, is but very- 

 little elevated above the level of both these lakes ; and the 

 water has been known, in times of flood, to rise and cover 

 the intermediate ground, so as to unite the two lakes. In 

 fact, both these bodies of water are in the same valley; and 

 it is within the recollection of some persons, now in the 

 country, that a boat once floated from Lake Travers into 

 the St. Peter. Thus, therefore, this spot offers us one of 

 those interesting phsenomena, which we have already al- 

 luded to, but which are no where perhaps so apparent as 

 they are in this place. Here we behold the waters of 

 two mighty streams, one of which empties itself into Hud- 

 son's Bay at the 57th parallel of north latitude, and the 

 other into the Gulf of Mexico, in latitude 29°, rising in the 

 same valley within three miles of each other, and even in 

 some cases offering a direct natural navigation from one 

 into the other. We seek in vain for those dividing ridges 

 which topographers and hydrographers are wont to repre- 

 sent upon their maps in all such cases, and we find a strong 

 confirmation of that beautiful observation of a modern tra- 

 veller, that " it is a false application of the principles of 

 hydrography, Avhen geographers attempt to determine the 

 chains of mountains, in countries of which they suppose 

 they know the course of rivers. They suppose that two 

 great basins of water can only be separated by great ele- 

 vations, or that a considerable river can only change its 

 direction, where a group of mountains opposes its course; 

 they forget, that frequently, either on account of the na- 

 ture of the rocks, or on account of the inclination of the 

 strata, the most elevated levels give rise to no river, while 



