NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 189 



saying, in a jolly way, as tliey handed them a drink of water : 

 *' After me, sir, is manners ;" and drinking off the first cup. At this 

 rapid I got out of my canoe, wishing to see the geological forma- 

 tion more fully, and walked quite to the Eapide du Pere, where 

 Fox Kiver finds its level in the broad, elongated, and lake-like 

 tongue of water, extending up from the head of Green Bay. On 

 reaching this point, the scene of the settlement first burst on our 

 view, with its farm-houses and cultivated fields stretching, for 

 five miles, along both banks of the river; disclosing the flagstaff 

 of the distant fort, and the bannered masts of vessels, all of which 

 brought vividly to mind our approach to the civilized world. If 

 the Canadian boat-song was ever exhilarating and appropriate, it 

 was peculiarly so on the present occasion ; and when our voya- 

 geurs burst out, in full chorus, with the ancient ditty, beginning, 



" Lafille du Roi son vout ckassau, 

 Avec son grande fusee d' largent," 



they waked up a responsive feeling, not alone in the breasts of 

 the French hahitans^ lining the shores of the river, but in our 

 own breasts. On reaching the fort, the salute due to the gover- 

 nor of a territory was paid, in honor of our leader, Governor 

 Cass; and in exchanging congratulations with the officers and 

 citizens, we began first to feel, in reality, that, after passing among 

 many savage tribes, our scalps were still safely on our heads. I 

 found, at the fort, letters from ray friends, and was thus reminded 

 that warm sympathies had been alive for our fate. Weary regions 

 had now been past, and privations endured, of which we thought 

 little, at the time ; the flag of the Union had been carried among 

 barbarous tribes, who hardly knew there was such a power as the 

 United States, or, if they knew, despised it ; and some informa- 

 tion had been gathered, which it was hoped would enlarge the 

 boundaries of science, and would at the same time send a thrill of 

 satisfaction, and impart a feeling of security, along the whole line 

 of the advanced and extended western settlements. If Berkeley, 

 in the dark days of the Commonwealth of England, could turn to 

 the West, with exultation, as the hope of the nation, it must be 

 admitted that it is by some out-door means, like this, that the way 

 for the car of " empire" must be prepared. 



We found the fort, which bears the name of Howard, in charge 



