AI;R0IIA— CAYUGA LAKF. 19 



LETTER IV, 



Aiir<)ro, 9ih June, 1S20. 

 My Dear Sir, 



In passlisg- frcm Aurora, along the eastern 

 bank of tlie Cayuga Lake towards the bridge, 1 

 met with several objects of great interest, and I 

 raucii regretted that my time did not admit of a 

 visit to a distinguished naturalist of the society of 

 Friends, David Thomas, whio lives in this vicini- 

 ty. Whether these interior lakes ha\ e been form- 

 ed from the retreat of the ocean, and are in a state 

 of gradual subsidence ; or v.hcther they have 

 been produced by springs and deposits of water 

 in great cavities, enlarging gradually their dimen- 

 sions by breaking down the feeble barriers of 

 schist with which they are surrounded, are stlil 

 points siihjudicc. As I proceeded on the banks 

 of tliis lake, which exhibit a grandeur and beauty 

 of scenery, A\r transcending any thing of the kind 

 I havT seen in Europe, I frequently came to the 

 seats of ancient Indian nations, selected as such 

 for their abundance of vegetable subsistence, fishes, 

 birds and beasts. I was utterly astonished when 

 I reached the Union Springs, formed by thejunc- 

 i.ion of exuberant fountains springing up from, the 

 earth, and forming iiistantaiieTiisly a water powcv 



