APPENDIX. 561 



Wisconsin, and thus got the knowledge of their features. The 

 parallelism which is apparent in these rocks, by the pinnacles 

 which have been left standing on high — the wasting effects of 

 time in scooping out valleys and filling up declivities — and the 

 dark and castle-looking character of the cherty limestone bluff's, 

 as viewed from the water, while the shadows of evening are deep- 

 ening around, are suited to make vivid impressions. And these 

 broken and denuded cliffs offer the most favorable points for 

 making geological observations. There are no places inland 

 where the streams have cut so deep. On gaining the height of 

 land, the strata are found to be covered with so heavy a deposit 

 of soil, that it is difficult to glean much that can be relied on re- 

 specting the interior structure. 



The angle formed by the junction of the Wisconsin Avith the 

 Mississippi, is a sombre line of weather-beaten rocks. Gliding 

 along the current, at the base of these rocks, the idea of a "hill 

 countr3'-," of no very productive character, is naturally impressed 

 upon the observer. And this impression came down, probably, 

 from the days of Marquette, who was the first European, that we 

 read of, who descended the Wisconsin, and thus became the true 

 discoverer of the Mississippi. The fact that it yielded lead ore, 

 bits of which were occasionally brought in by the natives, was in 

 accordance with this opinion ; and aided, it may be supposed, in 

 keeping out of view the real character of the country. I know 

 not how else to account for the light which has suddenly burst 

 upon us from this bank of the Mississippi, and which has at once 

 proved it to be as valuable for the purposes of agriculture as for 

 those of mining, and as sylvan in its appearance as if it were not 

 fringed, as it were, with rocks, and lying at a great elevation 

 above the water. This elevation is so considerable as to permit 

 a lively descent in the streams, forming numerous mill-seats. 

 The surface of the country is not, however, broken, but may be 

 compared to the heavy and lazy -rolling waves of the sea after a 

 tempest. These wave-like plains are often destitute of trees, ex- 

 cept a few scattering ones, but present to the eye an almost 

 boundless field of native herbage. Groves of oak sometimes 

 diversify those native meadows, or cover the ridges which bound 

 them. Yery rarely does any rock appear above the surface. 

 The highest elevations, the Platte Mounds, and the Blue Mound, 

 86 



