THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 499 



■which I found myself again out of the din of artful life among scenes of grandeur 

 ■worthy of the whole soul's devotion and admiration. 



When the morning's dew was shaken off, our coffee enjoyed, our light bark again 

 launched upon the ■waters, and the chill of the morning banished by the quick stroke 

 of the paddle and the busy chant of the corporal's boat-song, our ears and our eyes were 

 open to the rude scenes of romance that were about us. Our light boat ran to every 

 ledge, dodged into every slough or cut-off to be seen. Every mineral was examined, 

 every cave explored, and almost every bluff of grandeur ascended to the top. These 

 towering edifices of nature, which will stand the admiration of thousands and tens 

 of thousands, unchanged and unchangeable, though grand and majestic to the eye 

 of the passing traveller, will be found to inspire new ideas of magnitude when at- 

 tempted to be traveled to the top. From the tops of many of them I have sketched, for 

 the information of the world and for the benefit of those who travel much. I would 

 recommend a trip to the summit of " Pike's Tent" (the highest bluff on the river), 

 one hundred miles above Prairie du Chien ; to the top also of " La Montaigne qui 

 tromps a I'eau," the summit of Bad Axe Mountain, and a look over Lake Pepin's tur- 

 reted shores from the top of the bluff opposite to the "Lover's Leap," being the 

 highest on the lake, and the point from which the greater part of its shores can be 

 seen. — Pages 141-143, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years. 



LAKE PEPIN. ;; 



Of Lake Pepin, in 1835, he writes: 



In the midst, or half-way of Lake Pepin, which is an expansion of the river of 

 four or five miles in width, and twenty-five miles in length, the corporal and I hauled 

 our canoe out upon the beach of Point aux Sables, where we spent a couple of days 

 feasting on plums and fine fish and wild fowl, and filling our pockets with agates 

 and cornelians we were picking up along the pebbly beach; and at last started on 

 OUT way for the outlet of the lake, with a fair northwest wind, which wafted us 

 along in a delightful manner as I sat in the stern and steered, while the corporal 

 was " catching the breeze" in a large umbrella, which he spread oi>en and held in 

 the bow. We went merrily and exultingly on in this manner, until at length the 

 ■wind increased to anything but a gale, and the waves were foaming white, and dash- 

 ing on the shores, where we could not land without our frail bark being broken to 

 pieces. We soon became alarmed, and saw that our only safety was in keeping on 

 the course that we were running at a rapid rate, and that with our sail full set to 

 brace up and steady our boat on the waves, while we kept within swimming distance 

 of the shore, resolved to run into the first cove or around the first point we could 

 find for our protection. We kept at an equal distance from the shore, and in this 

 most critical condition, the wind drove us ten or fifteen miles without a landing 

 place till we exultingly steered into the mouth of the Chippeway River, at the out- 

 let of the lake, where we soon found quiet and safety, but found our canoe in a 

 sinking condition, being half full of water and having three of the five of her beams 

 or braces broken out, with which serious disaster a few rods more of the fuss and 

 confusion would have sent us to the bottom. We here laid by part of a day, and 

 having repaired our disasters, wended our way again pleasantly and successfully 

 on. — Page 144, vol. 2, Catlin's Eight Years. 



PRAIRIE DU CHIEN. 



Of bis arriral at Prairie du Chien, in 1835, he writes: 



At Prairie du Chien, which is near the mouth of the Ouisconsin River, and six hun- 

 dred miles above Saint Louis, where we safely landed my canoe, I found my wife 

 enjoying the hospitality of Mrs. Judge Lockwood, who had been a schoolmate of mine 

 in our childhood, and is now residing with her interesting family in that place. Under 



