HISTORICAL SKETCH. 21 



1766, Carver.] 



Passing through lake Pepin, he gives the usual description, adding the 

 following respecting the fauna : 



CARVER ON LAKE PEPIK AND THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 



Great numbers of fowl also frequent this lake and rivers adjacent, such as storks, swans, 

 geese, brants and ducks ; and in the groves are found plenty of turkeys and partridges. On the 

 plains are the largest buffaloes of any in America. Here I observed the ruins of a French 

 factory, where it is said Captain St. Pierre resided and carried on a very great trade with the 

 Naudowessies, before the reduction of Canada. 



The Mississippi, as far as the entrance of the river St. Croix, thirty miles above lake Pepin, is 

 very full of islands, some of which are of considerable length. On these also grow great 

 numbers of the maple or sugar tree, and around them vines loaded with grapes creeping to their 

 very tops. From the lake upwards few mountains are to be seen, and those but small. 



CARVER ON CARVER'S CAVE. 



About thirty miles below the falls of St. Anthony, at which I arrived the tenth day after 

 I left lake Pepin, is a remarkable cave of an amazing depth. The Indians term it Wakon-teebe, 

 that is the Dwelling of the Great Spirit. The entrance into it is about ten feet wide, the height 

 of it five feet. The arch within is near fifteen feet high and about thirty feet broad. The bottom 

 of it consists of fine, clear sand. About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water 

 of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance ; for the darkness of the cave 

 prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it. I threw a small pebble toward the interior 

 parts of it with my utmost strength ; I could hear that it fell into the water, and notwithstanding 

 it was of so small a size, it caused an astonishing and horrible noise that reverberated through all 

 those gloomy regions. I found in this cave many Indian hieroglyphics, which appeared very 

 ancient, for time had nearly covered them with moss, so that it was with difficulty I could trace 

 them. They were cut in a rude manner upon the inside of the walls, which were composed of a 

 stone so extremely soft that it might be easily penetrated with a knife ; a stone everywhere to be 

 found near the Mississippi. The cave is only accessible by ascending a narrow, steep passage that 

 lies near the brink of the river. 



At a little distance from this dreary cavern is the burying-place of several bands of the 

 Naudowessie Indians. Though these people have no fixed residence, living in tents, and abiding 

 but a few months on one spot, yet they always bring the bones of their dead to this place, which 

 they take the opportunity of doing when the chiefs meet to hold their councils and to settle all 

 public affairs for the ensuing summer. 



Ten miles below the falls of St. Anthony the river St. Pierre, called by the natives 

 Wadapaw Menesotor, falls into the Mississippi from the west. It is not mentioned by Father 

 Hennepin, although a large, fair river ; this omission, I conclude, must have proceeded from a 

 small island that is situated exactly at its entrance, by which the sight of it is intercepted. 

 I should not have discovered this river myself had I not taken a view, when I was searching for 



it, from the high lands opposite, which rise to a great height. Nearly over against this river I 

 was obliged to leave my canoe, on account of the ice, and travel by land to the falls of 

 St. Anthony, where I arrived on the 17th of November. The Mississippi, from the St. Pierre to 

 this place, is rather more rapid than I had hitherto found it, and without islands of any consid- 

 eration. 



CARVER AT THE FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY. 



The falls of St. Anthony received their name from Father Louis Hennepin, a French 

 missionary, who traveled into those parts about the year 1680, and was the first European ever 

 seen by the natives. This amazing body of waters, which are about 250 yards over, form a most 

 pleasing cataract ; they fall perpendicularly about thirty feet, and the rapids below, in the space 

 of 300 yards more, rendered the descent considerably greater; so that when viewed at a 



