yage toward the
South Sea. They followed the Mississippi to the Gulf, and returning,
arrived at Green Bay in September. In four months they had traveled a
distance of twenty-five hundred miles in an open canoe. Marquette was
sick a whole year, but in 1674, at the solicitation of his superior, set
out to preach to the Kaskaskia Indians. He was compelled to halt on the
way by his infirmities, and remained all winter at the place, with only
two Frenchmen to minister to his wants. As soon as it was spring,
knowing full well that he could not live, he attempted to return to
Mackinaw. He died on the way, on a small river that bears his name,
which empties into Lake Michigan on the western shore. His memory
en-wreathes the very names of Superior and Michigan with the halo of
romance."

"Thank you," said Vincent, looking out over the dark water. "I can fancy
his ghost haunting the lake at midnight."

"Speak not of that down at the Queen City," returned Hugh, with a tragic
air. "Pork and grain are more substantial things than ghosts at Chicago,
and they might look on you as an escaped lunatic. Nathless, it was a
pretty idea to promulgate among the Indians two centuries ago. Observe
how civilization has changed. Two hundred years ago we sent missionaries
among them: now we send soldiers to shoot them down, after we have
plundered them of their lands."

Neither of us were disposed to discuss the Indian question with Hugh
Warren, and the conversation dropped after a while.

At noon of the next day the steamer made Milwaukee, and the evening of
the day after Chicago. These two cities are excellent types of the
Western city, and both show, in a wonderful degree, the rapid growth of
towns in the great West. Neither had an inhabitant before 1825, and now
one has a population of one hundred thousand, and the other of five
hundred thousand. Chicago is, in fact, a wonder of the world. Its
unparalleled growth, its phoenix-like rise from the devastation of the
great fire of 1871, and its cosmopolitan character, all contribute to
render it a remarkable city.

The city looks out upon the lake like a queen, as in fact she is,
crowned by the triple diadem of beauty, wealth, and dignity. She is the
commercial metropolis of the whole Northwest, an emporium second only to
New York in the quantity of her imports and exports. The commodious
harbor is thronged with shipping. Her water communication has a vast
area. Foreign consuls from Austria,