128 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



but little under fourteen hundred feet above the Gulf of Mexico * 

 This summit bears a growth of the yellow pine. I observed, 

 amongst the shrubs, the vaccinium dumosum. Immediately above 

 the falls is a small rocky island, bearing a growth of spruce and 

 cedars, being the first island noticed above Sandy Lake. This 

 island parts the channel into two, at the precise point of its pre- 

 cipitation. On coming to the head of these falls, we appear to 

 have reached a vast geological plateau, consisting of horizontal 

 deposits of clay and drift on the nucleus of granitical and metamor- 

 phic rocks, which underlie the sources of the Mississippi River. 

 The vast and irregular bodies of water called Leech Lake, Win- 

 nipek, and Cass Lakes, together with a thousand lesser lakes of a 

 mile or two in circumference, lie on this great diluvial summit. 

 These lakes spread east and west over a surface of not less than 

 two hundred miles ; most of them are connected with channels of 

 communication forming a tortuous and intricate system of waters, 

 only well known to the Indians ; and there seems the less wonder 

 that the absolute and most remote source of the Mississippi has 

 so long remained a matter of doubt. 



By the time we had well seen the falls, and made some sketches 

 and notes, the indefatigable canoemen announced our baggage all 

 carried over the portage, and the canoes put into the water. Em- 

 barking, at this point, we found the river had lost its velocity ; it 

 was often difficult to determine that it had any current at all. 

 We wound about, by a most tortuous channel, through savannas 

 where coarse species of grass, flags, reeds, and wild rice struggled 

 for the mastery. The whole country appeared to be one flat 

 surface, where the sameness of the objects, the heat of the weather, 

 and the excessively serpentine channel of the river, conspired to 

 render the way tedious. The banks of the river were but just 

 elevated above these illimitable fields of grass and aquatic plants. 

 In these banks the gulls had their nests, and as they were dis- 

 turbed they uttered deafening screams. Water-fowl were intruded 

 upon at every turn, the blackbird and rail chattered over their 

 clusters of reeds and cat-tails ; the falcon screamed on high, as he 

 quietly sailed above our heads, and the whole feathered creation 

 appeared to be decidedly intruded on by our unwonted advance 



* Mr. Nicollet places the summit of the falls at 1,340 feet above the Gulf. 



