eneric points, which he is investigating in connection
with his forthcoming Gazetteer of the United States.

CHAPTER XII.

A pic-nic party at the foot of Lake Superior--Canoe--Scenery--Descent of
St. Mary's Falls--Etymology of the Indian names of Sault Ste. Marie, and
Lake Superior--The wild rice plant--Indian trade--American Fur
Company--Distribution of presents--Death of Sassaba--Epitaph--Indian
capacity to count--Oral literature--Research--Self-reliance.

1822. _August 20th_. I Went with a pic-nic to Gross Cape, a romantic
promontory at the foot of Lake Superior. This elevation stands on the
north shore of the straits, and consequently in Canada. It overlooks a
noble expanse of waters and islands, constituting one of the most
magnificent series of views of American scenery. Immediately opposite
stands the scarcely less elevated, and not less celebrated promontory of
Point Iroquois, the Na-do-wa-we-gon-ing, or Place of Iroquois Bones, of
the Chippewas. These two promontories stand like the pillars of Hercules
which guard the entrance into the Mediterranean, and their office is to
mark the foot of the mighty Superior, a lake which may not, inaptly, be
deemed another Mediterranean Sea. The morning chosen to visit this scene
was fine; the means of conveyance chosen was the novel and fairy-like
barque of the Chippewas, which they denominate _Che-maun_, but which we,
from a corruption of a Charib term as old as the days of Columbus, call
_Canoe_. It is made of the rind of the betula papyracea, or white birch,
sewed together with the fine fibrous roots of the cedaror spruce, and is
made water-tight by covering the seams with boiled pine rosin, the whole
being distended over and supported by very thin ribs and cross-bars of
cedar, curiously carved and framed together. It is turned up, at either
end, like a gondola, and the sides and gunwales fancifully painted. The
whole structure is light, and was easily carried by two men on their
shoulders; yet will bear a weight of more than a ton on the water. It is
moved with cedar paddles, and the Canadians who managed it, kept time in
their strokes, and regulated them to the sonorous cadence of some of
their simple boat songs. Our party consisted of several ladies and
gentlemen. We carried the elements of a pic-nic. We moved rapidly. The
views on all sides were novel and delightful. The water in which the men
struck their paddles was pure as crystal. The air was perfectly
exhil