PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 29 



" Over the whole route which T traversed after leaving 

 Crow-wiiig River, the country lias a ditlcrent aspect from that 

 whirli llie banks of the Missisippi above the Falls of St. 

 Anthony present. The forests are denser and more varied ; 

 the soil, which is alternately sandy, gravelly, clayey, and 

 loamy, is, generally speaking, lighter, excepting on the shores 

 of some of the larger lakes. The uplands are covered with 

 white and yellow pines, ."ipruce and birch ; and the wet, low 

 lands, by the American larch and the willow. On the slopes 

 of sandy hills, the American aspen, the canoe-birch, witii 

 a species of birch of dwarfish growth, the alder, and wild rose, 

 extend to the very margin of the river. On the borders of the 

 larger lakes, where tlie soil is generally better, we find the 

 sugar-maple, tlie black and bur oaks (also named over-cup 

 white oak, but dillering from the white oak), the elm, ash, 

 lime-tree, &c. Generally speaking, however, this wood-land 

 docs not extend back farther than a mile from the lakes. 

 The white cedar, the hemlock, spruce pine, and fir, are occa- 

 sionally found ; but the red cedar is scarce throughout this 

 region, and none, perhaps, are to be seen but on islands 

 of those lakes called by the Indians Red Cedar Lakes. The 

 shrubbery consists principally of the wild rose, hawthorn, 

 and wild plum ; and raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, 

 and cranberries, are abundant. 



'' The aspect of the country is generally varied by hills, 

 dales, copses, small prairies, and a great number of lakes ; the 

 whole of which I do not pretend to have laid down on my map. 

 The natural beauties of the country are, however, impressed 

 with a character of sternness and melanclioly ; the silence 

 and solitude of wliich are interrupted or revived only by the 

 flocks of water-fowl tliat congregate about its waters, to nestle 

 amidst and fatten upon tlic wild rice. The naturalist, how- 

 ever, has still an endless field of observation in the insect 



