NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION". 237 



A general landing was immcdiatelj made at the foot of the 

 hill, and as the five canoes came up the baggage was prepared in 

 bundles and packages for being carried, the canoe-paddles and 

 poles securely tied in bundles," and the canoes lifted from the water 

 and dried in the sun to make the transportation of them as light as 

 possible, and mended and pitched wherever they leaked. It was 

 found that the whole baggage, canoes and all, could be arranged 

 for eleven back-loads, this being the precise number of our 

 carriers, white and red ; and being ready, Ozawindib led the way, 

 having a single canoe for his share, and he was soon followed by 

 the whole line, each one of our sitters falling in this line, charged 

 with the particular instrument of his observation, or record of it. 

 The hill was steep, and the footing soft and yielding in the crum- 

 bling diluvion, and the scene, as the party struggled up the 

 ascent, presented quite a study for the picturesque. Lieutenant 

 Allen carried his canoe-compass, which I had had mounted by an 

 artisan of Detroit; Dr. Houghton grasped his hortus siccus under 

 his arms ; Mr. Johnston, our interpreter, had his pipe and fowling- 

 piece, and Mr. Boutwell had wellnigh lost his pocket-bible and 

 notes, while staying himself against the treacherous influence of a 

 steep sand cliff "While the party thus took their way over the 

 hill to cross a peninsula of a mile or two, and strike the river 

 above the junction of the Naiwa Eiver, I went to observe the 

 rapids.. The river, at this point, is forced through a narrow 

 gorge, where the water descends with loud murmuring over a 

 series of rapids, which form a complete check to navigation. The 

 portage is two miles. I judged the entire descent of the channel, 

 from the beginning to the terminus of the portage, to be forty- 

 eight feet. Boulders of the peculiar northern sienite, highly 

 charged witb hornblende, and of trap-rock, or greenstone, quartz, 

 and sandstone, were scattered over this elevation, and mixed with 

 the more finely comminuted portions of the same rocks, and of 

 amygdaloids and schistose fragments. Among these, I observed 

 some specimens of the zoned agate, which identifies the stratum 

 with the extensive drift formation of the upper Mississippi. It 

 would seem that extensive amygdaloidal strata formerly extended 

 over these heights, which have been broken down by the fierce and 

 general rush of the oceanic currents of the north, which once 

 manifestly swept over these elevations. 



