SOURCE OF ST. PETEr's RIVER. 247 



been effected in the character and habits of Indian youths, 

 during a short period of instruction in agriculture and the 

 rudiments of an English education, we are irresistibly led 

 to the belief that a brighter day may dawn upon our 

 savage brethren, and that the shades of barbarism in which 

 they have been so long enveloped will, ere long, give 

 place to the cheering light and benign influence of civili- 

 zation. 



3d. Statements relative to the elevation of different parts 

 of the country. 



With the exception of those items of intelligence drawn 

 immediately from the canal-surveys in New York and 

 Ohio, all that can be said on this subject is of a speculative 

 nature, and may be styled conjectures rather than state- 

 ments. Under the article Mississippi, in the Edinburgh 

 Encyclopedia, American edition, it is stated by the writer 

 of that article, that the Ohio, at Pittsburg, has a greater 

 elevation than Lake Erie by two hundred and sixty-five 

 feet, which no doubt exceeds the true elevation by at least 

 one hundred, if not one hundred and fifty feet, and we 

 would rather assume the difference, viz. one hundred and 

 fifteen feet, as a nearer approximation to the truth. From 

 the surveys recently made in the state of Ohio, it would 

 appear that the point at which the Ohio passes the plane 

 coincident with the surface of Lake Erie, whicli has an 

 elevation of five hundred and sixty-five feet above tide- 

 water, is situated at no great distance below Wheeling in 

 Virginia. Hence we must infer, that the descent of the 

 Ohio, between Pittsburg and the point alluded to, is one 

 hundred and fifteen feet, which is as great a descent as 

 can fairly be attributed to that portion of the river, espe- 

 cially when we are assured by the documents relative to 



