Tour to the Northern Lakes, Part II [pp. 733-742]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
approach appeared to lest on strata of limestone. The
Indian Islands, when seen between us and the sun, appeared like broad black lines above the horizon, their
ends not sloping gradually to the water as is customary,
but terminating abruptly. The number of these islands
about the head of Lake Huron are supposed to be
about 20,000 —10,500, (including all which support vegetation,) we were told, had been surveyed by the British
government.
We enter Green Bay at midday. This bay is about
80 miles deep from north to south, and from 30 to 40
miles broad. The water is seemingly almost black
when seen from the deck, but of the blue tint of the
ocean in the distance. Our fare on board the steamboat
is very bad, but fortunately, our appetites are sharpened by the keen air of the lakes. A second attempt
was made to-day to get up an Indian dance, but it succeeded only with one chief, whose performance had
nothing to recommend it. It consisted in nothing but
in jumping off the ground, with both feet at once, so as
to keep time with the beat of their monotonous drum.
It exhibits neither grace, agility, nor expression.
In the evening we came in sight of Navarino, on the
west side of Fox River, and Fort Howard, on the right.
There sprung up a strong breeze from the northwest
with rain, and an hour more of daylight would have
enabled us to reach the town, but as the channel is
narrow and very crooked, we camie to anchor about 4
miles from Navarino. This place lies on Fox River,
about 5 or 6 miles from the head of Green Bay.
The next day, Saturday, I took a look at the town
both before breakfast and afterwvards. Its site, as well
as the adjoining country, is a dead level of dark colored
land. The buildings are all new, having been principally erected within 3 or 4 years; and they are ranged
at considerable distances in wide streets, crossing at
right angles. They are wholly of wood, and are
painted white. Along the river bank were Indian
lodges or wigwams, covered with mats, in most of
which we saw groupes of men, women and children,
sitting round the fire made in the middle of these little
tenements, and either cooking or eating their simple
meal, or arranging and decorating their coarse black
hair. They all seemed to be remarkably and disgustingly dirty, and we have ocular evidence on board the
boat, that a part of the animal creation profit by their
slovenly and careless habits. I should think the number of houses could not exceed 200. Higher up the
river is Astor Town, adjoining Navarino, and great
rivalship is already manifested between the two places.
There are some 12 or 15 stores in the two places containing every variety of goods likely to be wanted here,
but not in large quantities. The river is about 200
yards wide, and the wild rice, and rushes growing in
the river below the town, convey the idea of insalubrity-but agues are said to be unknown here. A single
schooner lay in the harbor, and we met another as we
went out. A small party of us crossed over to Fort
Howard; I saw several officers, and the commandant,
Major H, all of whom received us with the usual
military courtesy. The barracks consist of a number
of wooden buildings, forming a quadrangle of about 150
by 250 feet-in which about 200 men could be comfortably accommodated. The wives of the officers told us
that they had just received the unwelcome intelligence
that their husbands were ordered to Florida. It is no
small drawback from their happiness that as soon as
they find themselves comfortable at a station, they are
in danger of being ordered off to another.
Having been told on board the boat that there were
regular tides in this river, twice every 24 hours, I inquired into so singular a phenomenon, and received
from the officers in the fort the most contradictory accounts. Some believing implicitly in these tides, and
referring them also to lunar influence, while others asserted that they were to be referred to the action of
winds on the lake, and denied that there was any
regularity in the time of their recurrence, or the intervals. It is admitted there is none in their high tidesthey varying from 4 inches to 2 feet. The advocates
for the theory of lunar tides insisted that the ge?eral
rule of these tides was regularity, and the deviations
from it were exceptions; that the winds were not the
cause of the rise and fall of the water, but were disturbing causes. Taking all the accounts together, my
companion, Mr. M - and I, concluded that the explanation which referred the alternate rise and fall of
the water to the winds was the most probable, though
the frequency of the rise and fall, and which the belief
that it recurs twice a day seems to establish, indicates
a degree of regularity in the action of the wind, which
merits further investigation. Dr., the surgeon,
who was decidedly an unbeliever in the doctrine of a
lunar tide, says, that at Mackinaw the current (after
a careful observation) flows up or down the straight according to the course of the wind, or by reflux when it
had ceased; but whether it sets east or west, the water
never rises above an inch. Another opinion derived
from the Indians has some currency in all the lake
country, and that is, that the waters in all the lakes
have an extraordinary rise every seven years; but it
seems to want confirmation, and has not yet been fully
investigated. News from this place to Washington
commonly takes 15 days.
A little above the town is Devil River, abounding in
fish. The woods here are full of deer, and the waters
in the winter afford a variety of wild fowl, but the
winters must be very dreary; and some of the officers
thought it wvas as cold here as at Mackinaw. Fox
River is navigable for steamboats 5 miles higher up,
and for batteaux more than 100 miles to the rapids. Its
source is in Winnebago lake. In no distant time there
will be a canal perhaps, or certainly a rail road from
Green Bay, or Winnebago lake to Lake Michigan, by
which a voyage of more than 200 miles will be saved.
At half past 11, we left the wharf to recruize Green
Bay to Lake Michigan, when we must again turn to
the south, and pursue our voyage to Chicago. We
lose from a day and a half to two days by leaving
Lake Michigan to ascend Green Bay. The population
of Wisconsin Territory is now estimated at 15,000.
A strong breeze from the north springing up in the
afternoon, and dense clouds rising in several parts of
the horizon warned us of bad weather, which was but
too soon realized. The wind rose, and with it the sea,
so that the boat labored, and seemed to make little
headway-especially as our wood was greener than
suits for fire engines. We, however, continued our
voyage until dusk, when we thought it prudent to come
to anchor under the lee of a little Island near the eastern
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