AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



173 



had got within ten miles of Gross cape when the wind 

 rose into a storm. The waves were making, fast, wlien 

 the paddles were resorted to, which, together with the 

 wind, forced us under the shelter of Gross point just in 

 time. We feared for our company, but keeping on, and now 

 in calmer water upon the river St. Mary, and at three 

 o'clock, I bade, perhaps, a final farewell to Lake Superior, 

 and its billowy and changeful surface; its moon-light scene- 

 ry; its broken and barren shores; its Grand Sables; its Pic- 

 tured rocks; its islands, and its solitude. I felt grateful 

 for the protection I had experienced, and for the safety of 

 all concerned; and gratified at having been made able to 

 feed the hungry, and to assist in planning measures which 

 we hope may prove in future a source of supplies, in part, 

 at least, for the miserable and starving beings among whom 

 we have been. 



At five o'clock arrived at the Sault de St. Marie. It 

 was our intention to go down the rapids, but our voyageurs 

 dissuaded us from it, assuring us that the canoe was too 

 deep, and that none of the crew knew the way well enough 

 to avoid, with certainty, the rocks which are no where 

 more than a few feet beneath the surface of the foam of the 

 rapids. 



We entered by the way of the race which had been cut 

 by the soldiers to let in the water for a saw mill, which has 

 been destroyed by fire since we left here; and at five, p. m. 

 had the gratification of being once more in a place where 

 the rights of hospitality had been extended to us; and al- 

 though it is only on the threshold of civilized life, so great 

 was the change from solitude to it, that I felt on seeing 

 these few log houses covered with bark, and the fort, 

 and the faces of the inhabitants, as if I had entered a popu- 

 lous town. We were scarcely in our quarters before the 



landlady, Mrs. H , announced the deaths of John 



Adams and Thomas Jefferson, and handed us the papers 

 which teem with the feelings, and reflections, and honours 

 of the people, on an occasion so unexampled! 



In an hour after our arrival, the Governor and Mr. Hol- 

 liday were seen careering it over the rapids, and flying by 

 us. They were surprised on seeing us, having passed us 

 at Grand island, and not expecting our arrival, at least, un- 

 til to-morrow. Tour to the Lakes. 



HOW SPIDERS EFFECT THEIR AERIAL EXCURSIONS. 

 By John Blackwell, Esq. F. L. S. 



Although it is well known that spiders sometimes as- 

 cend into the atmosphere through the instrumentality of 

 fine lines of a viscous gummy matter, which proceed from 

 X X 



the papillse situated at the extremity of the abdomen, yet 

 the manner in which these aerial journeys are effected 

 still remains involved in obscurity, and considerable diver- 

 sity of opinion exists as to the particular species of spider 

 by which they are undertaken. This deficiency leaves 

 open a wide field for speculation; and accordingly we find, 

 that natural historians have ascribed this interesting occur- 

 rence to several distinct causes, — such as the agency of 

 winds, evaporation, and electricity; the exercise of pecu- 

 liar physical powers, with which the spiders that produce 

 gossamer have been supposed to be endowed; and the ex- 

 treme levity of the webs of these insects, which are repre- 

 sented by some writers on the subject to be of less specific 

 gravity than atmosphere air : but that each of these hypo- 

 theses is unfounded, and in direct opposition to facts, will 

 be rendered evident by the following observations and ex- 

 periments, from which a satisfactory solution of the diffi- 

 culty, it is hoped, will be obtained. 



That gossamer, which usually abounds most in the months 

 of September and October, is perceived to ascend into the 

 atmosphere only in serene bright weather, is, I believe, 

 generally allowed: it is also admitted, the gossamer in the 

 air is invariably preceded by gossamer on the ground. 

 These, as will appear in the sequel, are circumstances of 

 much importance in the present investigation; every me- 

 thod of accounting for the ascent of the webs and spiders, 

 however plausible, which does not imply their concurrence, 

 being necessarily erroneous. 



But to proceed to my own researches: — A little before 

 noon on the 1st of October, 1826, which was a remarkably 

 calm sunny da}^, tlie thermometer in the shade ranging 

 from 55°-5 to 64°, I observed that the fields and hedges in 

 the neighbourhood of Manchester were covered over, by 

 the united labours of an immense multitude of spiders, with 

 a profusion of fine shining lines, intersecting one another 

 at everj'^ angle, and forming a confused kind of net-work. 

 So extremely numerous were these slender filaments, that in 

 walking across a small pasture my feet and ankles were 

 thickly coated with them: it was evident, however, not- 

 withstanding their great abundance, that they must have 

 been produced in a very short space of time, as early in 

 the morning they were not sufficiently conspicuous to at- 

 tract my notice; and on the 30th of September they could 

 not have existed at all; for on my referring to my me- 

 teorological journal, I find that a strong gale from the 

 south prevailed during the greater part of that day. 



A circumstance so extraordinary could not fail to excite 

 curiosity; but what more particularly arrested my atten- 

 tion was the ascent of an amazing quantity of webs of an 

 irregular complicated structure, resembling ravelled silk of 

 the finest quality and clearest white. They were of various 



