CHAPTER III. 



FORT WILLIAM BACK TO THE SAULT. 



July 25th. — We proposed to visit the copper-mine at Prince's 

 Location, on the shore of the lake about twenty miles to the west- 

 ward, and thence to cross to Isle Roy ale. In order to travel more 

 rapidly we sent the bateau back to Point Porphyry to await our 

 return, and proceeded with the two canoes only. 



Starting at about ten o'clock, we found the wind strong ahead 

 and encamped early in a bay about fourteen miles from the Fort. 

 On the way we passed Pie Island, a large mountainous island, 

 so called from an isolated peak on the west, which bears a strong 

 resemblance, not at all to a pie, but to a French pate, or pasty, with 

 high sides; and this is its true name. A porcupine was killed on 

 the beach as we landed, and proved very good meat. 



In the evening the Professor made the following remarks on the 

 distribution of animals and plants : 



" There is no animal, and no plant, which in its natural state is found in 

 every part of the world, but each has assigned to it a situation correspond- 

 ing with its organization and character. The cod, the trout, and the stur- 

 geon are found only in the north, and have no antarctic representatives. The 

 cactus is found only in America, and almost exclusively in the tropical 

 parts. Humboldt, to whom the earliest investigations on this subject are 

 due, extends the principle not only to the distribution of plants according to 

 latitude, but also according to vertical elevation above the surface of the 

 earth in the same latitudes. Thus an elevation of fourteen thousand feet 

 under the tropics corresponds to 53° north latitude in America, and 68° in 

 Europe. The vegetation on the summit of Mt. Etna would correspond with 

 that of Mt. Washington, and this again with the summits of the Andes, and 

 the level of the sea in the Arctic regions. In the ascent of a high moun- 

 tain, we have, as it were, a vertical section of the strata of vegetation which 

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