Featherstonhaugh^s Geological Report. 



141 



signifies the sun, and wee-wee, the moon, after which planet 

 the Indians have named the stream, from the half-moons it 

 forms. I was very particular in examining this locality, be- 

 cause it is the place where Major Long* abandoned the St. 

 Peter's, to perform the rest of the journey by land. 



About two miles further on the limestone and sandstone are 

 again in place, and about three more a long bluff, about twenty- 

 five feet high, presents itself on the right bank with the same 

 beds. These are succeeded in about five miles by a rocky 

 bluff on the right bank, called Makassa-usa, or White-earth 

 bluff, about seventy yards high. On reaching the top of this 

 bluff a curious spectacle presents itself. The horizon to the 

 east is bounded by a belt of wood about four miles from the 

 river ; from the wood an elevated terrace extends westward 

 about one mile of smooth prairie land, whilst the remaining 

 sunken portion is covered w^ith tens of thousands of boulders 

 of limestone and granite, some of them standiiig in the most 

 grotesque manner, and separated from each other as the wild 

 buffalo are when grazing; indeed, at a distance, they might 

 very well be taken for them. Some of the boulders w^eigh, 

 I should think, one hundred tons. To the south is prairie 

 land, at a much lower level, with a lake ; whilst on the opposite 

 side of the river nothing can exceed the beauty of the wooded 

 slopes, with a continuous smooth prairie beyond them. These 

 are amongst the interesting proofs of the retreat of the waters 

 in ancient times, and of their power to break up even the 

 beds of the primary rocks. Beyond this point an island is 

 passed about four hundred yards long, the largest yet met 

 with. The current is now very strong for some distance, and 

 from the continuation of bold bluffs, many of them with boul- 

 ders on their sides, it is evident the river has w orked its way 

 through a ridge here. Chaneaska, or Fort river, has received 



* Mr. Keating supposes tlie locality to have received the name of the Cres- 

 cent, "from a beautiful bend which the river nnakes." Keating's Narrative, 

 &.C. Vol. 1, p. 337. 



