SPRINGS, EIVERS, CANALS, LAKES, 



Poutowattimic Indians. This strait leads into what the French 

 called Baye Puant (stinking), but which is now named the Green 

 Bay ; it is long and narrow, and into it flows a large stream, 

 which rises near the Mississippi, and is denominated the Fox 

 River ; its banks are inhabited by a powerful tribe of Indi- 

 ans. On the south-west side of the river are the Saukie Indians. 

 Near the borders of this lake are a great number of sand cherries, 

 which are not less remarkable for their manner of growth, than for 

 their exquisite flavour. They are found upon a small shrub, not 

 more than four feet high, the boughs of which are so loaded, that 

 they lie in clusters on the sand. As they grow only on the sand, 

 the warmth of which probably contributes to bring them to such 

 perfection, they are called by the French cerise de sable*, the size 

 of them does not exceed that of a small musket-ball. Gooseber- 

 ries and juniper trees, bearing berries of a very fine kind, abound 

 here. Sumack likewise grows here in great plenty, the leaf of 

 which, if gathered when red, is much esteemed by the natives, who 

 mix about an equal quantity of it with their tobacco. Near this 

 lake, and on the borders of all the great lakes, grows a kind of 

 willow, to which the French have given the name of lois rouge, 

 or red zcood f . Its bark, when of one year's growth, is of a fine 

 scarlet colour, but as it grows older it changes into a mixture of 

 grey and red. The stalks of this shrub grow in clusters to the 

 height of six or eight feet, and never exceed an inch in diameter. 

 The Indians scrape the bark, which they dry and powder, and mix 

 with their tobacco, for their winter pipes. 



Lake SUPERIOR is entitled to this distinguishing appellation, not 

 only as it surpasses every other American lake in extent, but as be- 

 ing situated on a much more elevated part of the country, the 

 level of its waters being several hundred feet higher than those of 

 the St. Laurence. It may be justly called "the Caspian of Ame- 

 rica," and is unquestionably the largest expanse of fresh water in the 

 world, being in magnitude equal, or rather surpassing that Asiatic 

 salt water lake, which has been already spoken of. The French 

 are said to have observed of the lakes, that they rise, by impercep- 

 tible degrees, to about the height of three feet in seven years and 



* Cerasus pygmaea, Linn. Editor, 

 f Salix rnbra, Liun. Edit, 



