54 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



stratum of rock, iyi sitii^ presents itself. It is a gray friable sand- 

 stone, elevated from ten to twenty feet above the water, but 

 attaining a greater heiglit in the approach to this noted cape. 

 This stratum of sandstone rock, which is of a perishable cha- 

 racter, is exposed to receive the shock of the waves of Lake 

 Huron for several hundred miles from the north and west. It 

 exhibits the force and fury of the lake action by the numerous 

 cavities which have been worn into it, at the water's edge, and 

 by the sub-bays which have, in some localities, been formed in 

 the line of dark opposing cliffs. It was in one of these sub-bays 

 that we encamped, on a smooth sandy beach, which appears to 

 have been a favorite encamping ground of the natives. But al- 

 though we had met several canoes of Chippewas, on the route 

 between Fort Gratiot and this point, none were found at the 

 place of our encampment. Such of them as we approached, on 

 the lake, were invariably in want of food, and received it with 

 evident marks of gratification. 



On going inland, back from our encampment, we found a suc- 

 cession of arid ridges of sand, which had been evidently produced 

 by the prostrated sandstone of the coast, which, after comminution 

 by the waves, had been carried to this position by the winds. 

 These ancient dunes and ridges were covered sparsely with pitch 

 pines and aspen, and having their surfaces covered with the uva 

 ursi, pyrola, and smaller shrub-growth common to arenaceous 

 soils. 



On the day following, we ascended along the eastern shores of 

 Saganaw Bay, a distance of eighteen miles, which brought us 

 to Point aux Chenes. At this place the guides pointed to a group 

 of islands about midway of the bay, for which we steered. The 

 calmness of the weather favored the traverse. We reached and 

 landed on the largest of the group, called Shawangunk, by the 

 Indians, probabl}^ fi-om its southernmost position. I found it to 

 consist of a dark, compact limestone, imbedding masses of chal- 

 cedony and calcareous spar. I also picked up a detached mass 

 of argillaceous oxide of iron, and some fragments of striped 

 horns tone. Anxious to improve the favorable time for effecting 

 the passage, we pushed on for the opposite western shore, which 

 was safely reached. We then steered down the bay, skirting a 

 low sandy shore some twenty miles or more, till entering the 

 open lake, and reaching the Eiver aux Sables. On entering this 



