THE 80UTHEBK 8HOBE3 OE LAKE SUPEEIOB. 355 



repeatedly changed its direction, breaking through the successive 

 walls in different places." To these Mr. Foster has given the name 

 of river-belts. 



A striking example of this phenomenon attracted my attention 

 from the gigantic scale on which it is exhibited, as well from some 

 features peculiar to the particular case referred to ; and a brief 

 reference to it may be the more pardonable, as neither Professor 

 Agassiz nor Messrs. Foster and Whitney appear to have extended their 

 observations so far west as the Fond du Lac, where it occurs. The 

 northern shores of Lake Superior may be roughly described as forming 

 the segment of a circle, which terminates at its western end in the 

 Fond du Lac, a comparatively narrow and deep inlet, or cul de sac, 

 into which the waters of the St. Louis, Nemadji, and Aloues Bivers 

 empty their streams. At this point the lake is exposed to the full 

 force of northern and north-westerly winds, while the magnitude of the 

 St. Louis Fviver opposes to the silting action of the Lake a force well 

 calculated to develope some of the most striking features of the 

 phenomena in question. From either side of the Lake two long and 

 narrow tongues of land project towards each other, leaving between 

 their extreme points only a narrow channel, 2400 feet in width, to 

 admit of entrance into Superior Bay, and to afford an exit for the 

 waters of the rivers which there enter the lake. The northern 

 tongue, which is called Minnesota Point, extends across the bay, 

 between six and seven miles, while its average breadth is only seven 

 hundred feet, and on the extreme point of it a picturesque group of 

 Indian lodges shows that the aborigines have not yet deserted the 

 shores of the great lake. Wisconsin Point, which stretches towards 

 it from the southern shore, measures fully three and a half miles in 

 length ; while, within this outer barrier, a second series of walls is 

 Constructed independently by each of the rivers ; one of these on the 

 western side of the Nemadji forms an irregular and narrow tongue of 

 land, about 4500 feet in length, and, with the broader delta of the 

 same material, on its eastern side, projects the channel of the river 

 far into the Eay of Superior. The inner peninsular formations at the 

 mouth of the St. Louis are on a still larger scale, and run parallel to 

 the Minnesota Point. The northern St. Louis Point stretches 

 towards the southern one, across the bay of St. Louis, at the mouth 

 of the river, fully one and a half mile in length, and smaller forma- 

 tions show the same process going on in the development of inner con- 

 centric lines. This remarkable series of spits and river-belts, it will be 

 perceived, is on a scale of magnitude, far surpassing anything else to be 



