56 NAEEATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



At six o'clock the next morning we were again in our canoes, 

 assiduously moving along tlie Huron coast ; but, after proceeding 

 about a league, a storm of wind and rain suddenly arose, driving 

 us from the lake. A few hours served to restore its calmness, 

 but we had not gone over a couple of leagues when we were 

 again compelled by the rising wind to take to the shore, where 

 we were detained the rest of the day, listening to the capricious 

 murmurs of the lake. This position was directly opposite Middle 

 Island, a noted anchorage about six miles distant. All night the 

 waves of the lake were heard. The morning broke without 

 change. Lake Huron still evinced an angry aspect, threatening 

 to renew the struggle of yesterday. It was concluded to send the 

 canoes forward, relieved of our weight, and proceed ourselves on 

 foot along th-e beach. "Walking on this became difficult on those 

 parts of it where the fossiliferous and shelly limestone had been 

 broken up and heaped in small fragments. Among these, we 

 recognized specimens of the cornu-ammonis, and the maderpore, 

 with some other species. The cedars and brushy growth gene- 

 rally stood so thick, and grew so closely to this line of debris, 

 that it was impracticable to take the w^oods. The toil, however, 

 rewarded us with some specimens of the organic forms imbedded 

 in the rock, while it enabled the topographers to secure the data 

 for a very perfect map of the coast. At ten o'clock in the morn- 

 ing we reached the east cape of Presque Isle Bay, where the 

 canoes came to take us across to the peninsula of that name. 

 After completing this, the men landed the canoes and baggage on 

 the peninsula side, and carried them across the narrow sandy neck 

 of land ; but, on reaching the open lake beyond it, the wind was 

 found too strongly adverse to permit embarkation. The Cana- 

 dians have the not inappropriate term of degrade for this species 

 of detention; we were here foiled, indeed, in our high hopes of 

 pushing ahead, and compelled to wait on the naked sands for 

 many weary hours. While thus detained, the Indians brought 

 in a brown rabbit,* a species of lake tortoise, and some pigeons, 

 being their only fruits of success in hunting, except a single 



• This is pi'esumed to be a variety of the American Hare, and may be distin- 

 guished by the following characters: Body eighteen inches long; color of the hair 

 grayish-brown on the back, grayish-white beneath. Neck and body rusty and cene- 

 rous. Legs pale rust color. Tail short, brown above, white beneath. Hind legs 



