126 NARRATIVE, &c. 



for our night encampment ; but we saw the sun set, casting its 

 golden hues and its deep shadows over the water, and going 

 down in a gorgeous ampitheatre of fleecy clouds. The moon 

 almost imperceptibly shone out, to supply its place, creating a 

 scene of moonlight stillness, which wa3 suited to fix a living im- 

 pression of 



" The silence that is in the starry sky, 



" The sleep that is among the lonely hills." 



Nothing could present a greater contrast, to the noisy scene of 

 horses and horsemen, war and bloodshed, which, we were then 

 unconcious, was about being acted, so near to us. We allude 

 to the pursuit and destruction of the Black Hawk s army. 



We encamped at a late hour, near a lofty eminence, which ex- 

 hibited on its summit, a number of small mounds or barrows 

 strongly relieved by the moonlight, which shone across the emi- 

 nence, and left us in the shade. We resumed our way again, be- 

 fore the hour of five in the morning, (27th) and were still some- 

 thins more than two hours in reaching the head of the lake. In 

 going out of this beautiful sheet of water, we would revert to some 

 traits in its natural productions which serve to distinguish it, as 

 well as its prominent scenery, although there are none equally 

 distinctive. The great carboniferous limestone formation,* 

 which fills the Mississippi valley, also reaches here, although 

 there is now reason to believe that it reaches but little farther 

 north. Its vegetation has little that is peculiar. The red cedar 

 is found, hanging from some of its craggy shores on the lower 

 part. Some fresh water shells, generally thin and small, with 

 primary and lateral teeth wanting, characterize the sandy por- 

 tions of its shore. There are some willow islands at the point 

 where the River St. Croix enters it. And this point of the in- 

 gress of a large stream, presents the characteristicts of what 



* I am not certain that I fully comprehend the brevity of Mr. Eaton's division 

 of this formation of the English geologists ; but if I do so, he'deduces from it, or 

 from its equivalent in American geology, 1. Second graywake, 2. Caleiferous 

 sandrock, 3. Silicious lime rock, 4. Metalliferous limerock. 



