202 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION. 



vessel. This violence continued, witli no perceptible diminution, 

 during tlie day. As a mode of relief from the tedium of delay, 

 a short excursion was made into the prairie. I found a few spe- 

 cies of the unio, in a partially choked up branch of the Konamek. 

 Capt. Douglass improved the time by taking observations for the 

 latitude, and we footed around ten miles of the extreme southern 

 head of the lake. It is edged with sand-hills, bearing pines. A 

 few dead valves of the fresh- water muscle were found on the shore. 



On the following day the wind lulled, when we proceeded fifty- 

 four miles, passing in the distance the remains of the schooner 

 Hercules, which went ashore in a gale, in November, 1816, and 

 all on board perished ; her mast, pump, spars, and the graves of 

 the passengers, among which, was that of Lieut. W. S. Eveleth, 

 U.S. A., were pointed out to us. "We landed a few moments at 

 the entrance of the River du Chemin,* where the trail to Detroit 

 leaves the lake shore. The distance to that city is estimated at 

 three hundred miles. Ten miles beyond this spot we passed the 

 little River Galieu, where, at this time, the town and harbor of 

 New Buffalo, of Michigan, is situated, and we encamped on the 

 shore twelve miles beyond it. 



We had been travelling on a slightly curved line from Chicago 

 to the spot, in the latitude of 41° 52' 20", and had now reached 

 a point where the course tends more directly to the northeast and 

 north. By the best accounts, the length of Lake Michigan, lying 

 directly from south to north, is four hundred miles. There is no 

 other lake in America, north or south, which traverses so many 

 degrees of latitude, a*nd we had reason to expect its flora and 

 fauna to denote some striking changes. We had passed down 

 , its west, or Wisconsin shore, from Stiirgeon Bay, finding it to 

 present a clear margin of forest, with many good harbors, and a 

 fertile, gently undulating surface. But we were now to encounter 

 another cast of scenery. It is manifest, from a survey of the 

 eastern shore of this lake, that the prevalent winds are from the 

 w^est and northwest, for they have cast up vast sand dunes along 

 the coast, which give it an arid appearance. These dunes are, 



* Michigan City, of the State of Indiana, is located near this spot. This city has 

 its harbor communicating with Lake Michigan through this creek. It has a news- 

 paper, branch bank, railroad, and (in 1853J 2,353 inhabitants. 



