RIVERS AND LAKES. 
69 
rivers fall into these lakes, after having watered 
immense tracts of country in various directions. 
Some of these rivers ,too are connected 4n a 
most singular manner with others, which run in 
a course totally different. For instance, after 
passing over the Lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Mi¬ 
chigan, to the head of Puan’s Bay, you come to 
Fox River; from hence there is a portage of 
three miles only to Ouisconsing River, which 
empties itself into the Mississippi; and in the 
fall of the year, when the waters are high, and 
the rivers overflow, it is oftentimes possible to 
pass from Fox River to Ouisconsing River 
without ever getting out of a canoe. Thus, 
excepting a portage of three miles only at the 
most, it is possible to go the whole way by wa¬ 
ter from Prcsqu’ Isle, on Rake Erie, to New 
Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi, adis?- 
tance of near four thousand miles. If would he 
an endless task to trace the water communica^ 
tion in every direction. By a portage of nine 
miles at the Falls of Niagara, the navigation 
of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence is open ¬ 
ed on one side, and at the other that of Lake 
Superior, by a still shorter portage at the Falls 
of St. Mary. This last lake, which is at least 
flftcen hundred miles in circumference, is sup¬ 
plied by no less than forty rivers; and beyoiiif 
it the water communication extends for him- 
