stands Springfield, a small thriving town, which like most of those
in this part of the country, is exceedingly neat and clean. In the
neighbourhood is a considerable number of English settlers, chiefly
farmers from Yorkshire. There is no doubt that any man who is able
and willing to work for his livelihood, can always, in two or three
years, make himself master of a farm, in the back woods, in this or
any other part of the Union. The average value of uncleared land, is
a hundred dollars for eighty acres. A single man can every where earn
at least twelve dollars a month. Provisions are exceedingly cheap; a
sheep or a deer, can be purchased for a dollar; wheat may be about two
shillings the bushel, and an acre of Indian corn, which is only one
shilling the bushel, will produce twice the quantity that is raised on
an acre of wheat. It is unfortunate that the common class of British
emigrants are too much disposed to believe that a land of liberty is
identified with a land of promise, and that when they emigrate to
America, no difficulties will ever present themselves. The consequence
is, that exaggerated accounts of their first troubles, bearing no
proportion to their real privations, are frequently sent home to
their friends in England: but I am convinced from my own observation,
and occasional colloquy with my emigrant countrymen, that it must be
a man’s own fault, however poor he may be at first, if he be not,
in a very few years, to use a common phrase, completely above the
world; be his occupation what it may. The English and Scotch commonly
travel a long way into the western country, where they become farmers
and graziers; the Irish prefer remaining in, or near the principal
towns, and what is very unusual in Irishmen, they find employment as
road-makers, canal-diggers, or bricklayers. Witness the result of free,
and protecting institutions.—Fifty years ago, the population westward
of the Alleghany did not exceed 15,000; now it amounts to 5,000,000!
The population of priest-ridden Mexico has not increased for centuries.
Columbus, the capital of the state of Ohio, contains nearly 4000
inhabitants. Its appearance is very promising, but there is nothing in
it to detain the traveller.
At Mansfield I was obliged to remain a day and a half, in consequence
of the late rains having rendered the streams impassable. Fortunately
I placed myself in very good quarters, at the inn or tavern, where I
met with the greatest civility and attention, and far more comfort
and cleanliness than is often found at a country inn in the United
States. I passed a whole morning unsuccessfully with my gun in the
woods. “Well, stranger, are you going gunning this morning?” “Yes;
and pray what game is there in the forest here?” I inquired. “Why,
sir, there is robin, and some turkey, and considerable squirrel, about
sundown.” The robin is a very common bird of the fieldfare genus, with
a red breast, a little larger than our redwing. However, I met with no
turkey, and contented myself with seeing my companion hit or “scare”
(terrify) the squirrels with his rifle. Sassafras, sarsaparilla, and
ginseng, are found in these forests. The latter root is so plentiful
as to be an article of commerce; great quantities of it are sent to
the coast, and exported to China, where, as is well known, it is very
highly prized, being considered a panacea.
The last five miles into Sandusky, or Portland, lie over a small
prairie; but it is not a good specimen, as the herbage is short, and
copses of stunted trees are frequent. Prairies are either dry or wet.
The wet prairies are, in fact, nothing but a marsh covered with long
grass, and have been so from any indefinite period of time. Of the
dry prairies some may have been originally wet, and some may have
been cleared by the Indians, for the purpose of using them as hunting
fields. But the former supposition, if the fact could be ascertained,
would probably, in most cases, be found to be the true one.
The shores of the lake at Sandusky are exceedingly flat. I was
fortunate in finding a steam-boat there, which was going to Detroit,
Green bay, and the Saut de St. Marie, at the entrance of Lake
Superior, and would afterwards return to Buffalo. The “Superior,” as
she was called, was, I think, the most comfortable steamer I had yet
entered; her upper deck, about one hundred and twenty feet in length,
was of great width, and afforded a most excellent promenade. We
had on board upwards of sixty passengers, many of whom were ladies;
and there was plenty of room for us all, with the advantage of an
excellent table, and a small band. The lake afforded us a supply of
most delicious fresh water. Soon after leaving Sandusky we passed
in sight of Put-in-Bay, in the Bass Islands, forming one of the
finest natural harbours to be found any where. Commodore Perry lay at
anchor there on the night previous to the 10th of September, 1813,
on which day he gained his victory over our fleet in the vicinity.
Night soon closed in upon us. We passed Malden, or Amherstburg, as
it is more usually called. The British squadron lay at anchor there
previously to its engagement with Commodore Perry. A boat pushed off
in the darkness, and asked to be taken in tow. “Who are you?” very
properly asked the captain. “We, British!” was the ludicrous answer
of some French Canadians, and the steamer passed on. A company of the
79th was stationed at Malden. In the morning we found ourselves at
Detroit: this place was a considerable French settlement so long ago
as the year 1759, when it fell with the Canadas into the possession
of the British, and is now increasing with a rapidity to which it is
fairly entitled by its situation, on the outlet of the great lakes.
The French unquestionably displayed their usual tact and foresight in
their choice of the different points of communication in the extensive
chain of forts which was originally continued from the Canadas to the
Mississippi—the proof is, that all of them are of great importance at
the present time. A similar but more enlarged instance of this, the
highest grade of military strategy, is to be found in the vigorous
and persevering policy of Great Britain, which has secured to her a
chain of fortresses by which, as a gallant American General-officer
expressed himself to me, “She has check-mated the world.” The master
mind of General Bernard, the elève and aid-de-camp of Napoleon, and
perhaps the first engineer now living, whom I had the honour of meeting
at Washington, has displayed itself in the very extensive and accurate
military surveys, which he has taken in almost every part of the United
States. The fortifications which he has constructed, have rendered the
estuaries of the United States altogether inaccessible to an invading
fleet. General Bernard, as is well known, has lately quitted the
service of the United States, and returned to France.
The wharfs and buildings at Detroit extend along the river side for
about a mile, and exhibit much of the bustle of a commercial town. The
streets are spacious and regular,—the largest is more than half a mile
in length, and contains some excellent shops and a capital hotel. That
part of the bank upon which the city is built, is slightly elevated
above the rest of the country, and commands a view which, although
generally flat, is far from being uninteresting. The farms are laid out
in narrow slips of land, which run parallel to each other, and at right
angles to the river, reaching to the edge of the forest, distant about
two miles from the city. By this means the first settlers were enabled
to build their habitations within a short distance of each other; they
had a smaller space of road to keep in repair, and afforded each other
a mutual support against the sudden attacks of the Indians. At Detroit,
the American General Hull surrendered to General Brock during the last
war, but the city was subsequently retaken, previously to the battle
of the Thames.
We entered the lake of St. Clair,—about thirty miles in length, and
twenty five in breadth; we passed a considerable distance from its
banks, but they appeared to be very flat and uninteresting. On the
right is the mouth of the river Thames; made remarkable by the victory
obtained over the British by a superior force under the American
General Harrison. The celebrated Indian chief, Tecumseh, fell in the
engagement; and the importance of this victory to the Americans was
felt by the dissolution of the hostile Indian confederacy consequent on
the death of their leader.
On the left of the entrance to the river St. Clair, is a large wet
prairie: on the right are several islands, forming to all appearance
but one extensive morass, and abounding in wild fowl. As the channel
became narrower, we perceived that the American banks were far more
settled than those on the Canada side; but they soon alike presented
nothing but a dense mass of forest trees, at a slight elevation above
the water.
After moving on for about thirty miles, we arrived at Fort Gratiot at
the head of the river; it contained a small garrison, just sufficiently
strong to resist an attack from the Indians. The pay of an American
private is eight dollars a month, with an allowance of one ration per
diem; but his duties are far harder than those of the British soldier,
which accounts for the frequency of desertion. A lieutenant in the army
receives but sixty dollars a month, after deduction for subsistence,
forage, fuel, quarters, and expenses for servants. The pay of a captain
after the same deduction, amounts to about eighty dollars a month.
The stipend of a naval captain amounts altogether to four thousand
four hundred dollars a year; his cabin is furnished better, and the
allowance for breakage is more liberal than that of an English officer
of the same rank.
I here saw an Indian dance: the performers, an old man and his sons,
advanced towards us, on a forest path, looking like wood demons,
jumping and racing with each other, and uttering a small shrill cry at
intervals; they were nearly naked, bedaubed all over with clay, and
began the dance with light clubs in their hands: sometimes they writhed
on the ground like snakes, at others they shook their clubs at each
other, and used the wildest and most extravagant gestures. The old
Indian beat time on a small skin stretched across a piece of hollow
tree. When stooping to the ground and looking upwards, his features
and figure reminded me of the celebrated statue of the “Remouleur” at
Florence.
The whole of this part of America is inhabited by the Chippewas, by
far the largest tribe of Indians on the shores of the great lakes. The
waters of Lake Huron had been agitated by a furious north wind, and
headed directly on the mouth of the river; the current was running with
such velocity, that the steam boat did not effect her passage without a
long and very severe struggle, and when at last fairly out on the lake,
she made so little progress that she was obliged to put back. Some of
the passengers amused themselves with fishing, and caught some black
bass; as for myself, I proceeded with two Indians in a canoe to the
morass opposite the fort, which abounded in wild fowl of all kinds;
I contrived to shoot several ducks, notwithstanding the unseasonable
cries raised by the Indians in token of their delight, on seeing a
bird fall. Their quickness of sight and hearing answered nearly all
the purposes of a water spaniel, when I could not immediately find a
wounded bird. At length we made another attempt, and entered the vast
expanse of Lake Huron. The coast on the right stretched away to the
north nearly at right angles; and we gradually lost sight of it. Our
course was along the western shore, where the banks were, or seemed to
be, a little higher; but still very low, appearing nowhere to exceed
thirty feet in height. The unbroken and interminable forest, with which
they are covered, contains more game than any other part bordering on
the lakes, being less frequented by hunters. The American elk (the
wapiti of the Egyptian Hall), the moose, and common deer are found
there, with plenty of bears, wolves, and other wild inhabitants of the
forest; the moose has the power of remaining under water for a very
long time, and, when in danger, has been known to plunge into a pool,
and remain at the bottom for more minutes than I care to mention here.
We steered directly for the Saut de St. Marie, at the foot of Lake
Superior, and distant two hundred and twenty miles. One mile of the
coast on any of these lakes will give a very tolerable idea of the
whole of them, with, of course, some exceptions. Yet although there
was but little variety in this respect, the voyage was exceedingly
interesting. The fineness of the weather, the cool breeze so refreshing
after the sultry heat to which I had been exposed, the comparative
absence of musquitos, and the ever present recollection that we were
sailing on the great lakes of North America, where, comparatively
speaking, so few had been before me, gave a tone to the excursion
that compensated for more commanding scenery. As we passed Saganaw
bay, we were very nearly out of sight of land. The Mannito, or Spirit
islands were the next objects that presented themselves to our view:
these are supposed by the Indians to be inhabited by spirits, the word
_mannito_ in the Indian language, signifying spirit. We then
passed Drummond Island, which during the last war contained a British
fort and garrison, but has been since abandoned. Some ruins on the
large island of St. Joseph were visible from the steam boat; they were
the remains of a fort, which was suffered to fall to decay, previously
to the fortifications being erected on Drummond’s Island. On the
American bank, near the entrance of the river St. Marie, we observed
a spot called the Sailor’s Encampment. The forest had been partially
cleared away, and there was no vestige of humanity remaining. Some
years ago, a sloop was wrecked there; the crew suffered incredible
hardships, and many of them died from want, before the survivors
contrived to make their escape. We entered a cluster of small islands
at the mouth of the river, and I thought this the finest piece of lake
scenery I had yet witnessed; as far as I could judge _en passant_,
they appeared to be chiefly composed of gneiss, lying in large masses
of rock, resembling those that are so common in some parts of Sweden.
In comparing these with the islands of Killarney, and Loch-Lomond, I
should remark, that the full rich foliage did not seem complete without
the arbutus; and the dark tint of the fir trees, with which they were
covered, was not relieved as in the Scottish lake, by the exquisitely
delicate appearance of the weeping birch.
It was a remarkably fine evening: as the steamer passed rapidly on, her
paddles seemed to take infinite pleasure in defacing the astonished
surface of the water, and splashed away through the liquid crystal with
as little ceremony as if they had been propelling a mere ferry boat.
Every thing besides was hushed and tranquil: the very passengers, who
had all assembled near the forward part of the deck, were intensely
gazing upon the scene around them; and watched in almost breathless
silence, as the vessel rounded each bend in the deep, but comparatively
narrow river, that developed in quick succession some new and more
beautiful object at every turn. Suddenly we heard the screams of a
party of Indians, who had descried us from their wigwams on one of
the islands, and were paddling after us in a canoe with all their
might. One of them was a chief, who displayed the flag of the United
States. In the course of the afternoon, we had been amusing ourselves
by shooting with rifles at a bottle attached to a line about forty
yards in length; this had been left hanging from the stern, and the
endeavours of the Indians to catch hold of the string afforded us
no little amusement. Their faces were deeply stained with the red
extract from the blood root (Sanguinaria Canadensis); they were in the
best possible humour, and their wild discordant laugh, and the still
wilder expression of their features, as they encouraged each other
to exertion with quickly repeated and guttural exclamations, enabled
us to form some idea of their animated appearance, when excited to
deeds of a more savage description. By dint of the greatest exertion,
they contrived to seize the string; they held on for a moment by it;
it snapped, and the canoe was instantly running astern at the rate
of seven or eight knots. They again had recourse to their paddles,
and used them with redoubled energy; we then slackened our pace for
a minute or two, and threw them a rope, by which they soon pulled
themselves under the stern. We conversed with them through the medium
of an interpreter, and made them presents of bread and spirits. They
seemed very thankful, threw us some pigeons which they had killed, and
fired a _feu-de-joie_ with their fowling-pieces at parting.
The next morning we came in sight of the Saut, resembling the inclined
plane of a large artificial dam. The scenery, though not grand, was
decidedly curious and picturesque. On the right are the Canadian
settlements, and the original establishments of the north-west company:
the left bank is lined by a succession of small neat-looking country
houses and white cottages. Near the Saut stands the fort, large enough
to contain three companies; but then garrisoned, I believe, with but
eighty men. Every thing about it was in excellent order: before our
drawing up to the landing-place, we were boarded by several Indians
with moccasins (leathern sandals), belts, tobacco pouches, and bark
work, for sale.
The Saut de St. Marie most effectually prevents any vessel from
ascending the river to Lake Superior, excepting such as are light
enough to be towed up. As the steam-boat could not proceed farther,
we embarked in canoes on a small canal, which has been cut from the
fort to the river above the Saut, and paddled away for the entrance
of the lake. Immediately after I had started, my canoe began to leak;
she was instantly drawn on shore by the Indians close to a wigwam, and
turned keel upwards. A light-coloured pitch, extracted from a species
of pine, was boiled in about ten minutes. A piece of canvass was then
besmeared with it, and laid over the leak on the outside. Another layer
of pitch was followed by another piece of canvass, and then a third and
last plaster of the pitch was spread over the whole. In a quarter of
an hour she was again launched perfectly water tight. These canoes are
of a light and most elegant construction. They are made of birch bark
extended over a slight frame of cedar, and fastened or rather sewed to
it, by the flexible roots of the young spruce tree. They are usually
about fifteen feet in length, and can carry seven or eight persons
without danger. Some of them, however, are much larger.
The land on each side of the river presented much the same appearance
as that we had hitherto seen. Lake Superior may be fairly said to
commence at the Point aux Pins, a flat sandy promontory, distant
about six miles from the Saut. Beyond it, the surface of the water is
suddenly enlarged to a width of three or four miles; and though the
open expanse of the lake is not visible from the Point, yet the high
and abrupt ridges of land that rise immediately at the entrance of the
lake, and the clear expanse of cloudless sky that was extended beyond
them, clearly informed us, that the mighty inland ocean was near at
hand. Lake Superior is six hundred and seventy miles in length—of
course a vast deal larger than the British Channel,—the water is as
clear as crystal, and cool in the hottest weather. Being chiefly
supplied by land springs, the quantity of water that falls over the
Saut is much greater than that which is poured into the lake by its
tributary rivers and streams, which are comparatively small and
insignificant. The sailors in the steam-boat would occasionally peel a
large potatoe, and throw it in advance of the boat, and by the time she
arrived at the spot where it fell, the potatoe has sunk to the depth of
thirty or forty feet, but from the clearness of the water, its shape
and colour were perfectly distinct.
Of all the different places we touched at on our voyage, the Saut
had the strongest claims on our time and attention. We were much
mortified at being obliged to leave it the same afternoon. The captain
determining to return, contrary, I believe, to the wish of every one
on board. Only one or two canoes that had started earlier than the
others, were able to proceed farther than the Point aux Pins.
In our way back to the steamer, every canoe shot down the Saut. This
is an exceedingly dangerous experiment, except when they are guided by
people who have been long accustomed to the management of them. The
Saut, which is the only outlet to the waters of Lake Superior, may be
about one-third of a mile in width, and about half-a-mile in length;
the fall in that space being about twenty-four feet. The canoes, with
the paddles fore and aft, soon began to feel the effect of the current,
and were immediately after carried forward with great velocity. In many
places the waters were without foam, and perfectly transparent, and the
large loose rocks at the bottom were distinctly seen; many of them rise
nearly to the surface, but were avoided by the remarkable dexterity
of the steersman, where the slightest want of skill must inevitably
have overturned the canoe. The descent occupied between three or four
minutes. The rapids on the left bank were evidently more furious, and
are very seldom descended.
The Saut de St. Marie was originally occupied by the French as a
military and trading port. At the foot of the rapids there is, I was
informed, some of the finest fly-fishing in the world: the trout are
very fine, in enormous quantities, and rise very freely. But our
inexorable captain cared for none of these things. White-fish (supposed
by some to be of the salmo genus), are also exceedingly plentiful.
Their flavour is remarkably fine and delicate.
The next morning we approached the island of Michilimackinac,
signifying in the Indian language, the Great Turtle; and so called
from its outline bearing a supposed resemblance to that animal when
lying upon the water, though I cannot say that I could discover so
flattering a likeness. When within a short distance it appeared to be
diamond-shaped, with an angle projecting towards us, and the sides
regularly scarped by the hand of nature. Apparently about the centre
of the island rises what in America is called a “bluff;” a word which
is provoking from its absurdity, and constant recurrence in American
descriptions of scenery. What is a bluff?—I asked, and so would any
other Englishman: “A bluff, sir! don’t you know what a bluff is? A
bluff, sir, is a piece of rising ground, partly rock, not all of it,
with one side steep, but yet not very steep, the other side sloping
away, yet not too suddenly; the whole of it, except the steep side,
covered with wood; in short, sir, a bluff is a bluff!” The word, I
think, may do well enough to express a small rough rocky hill, but
sometimes it happens that a bluff is highly picturesque, and then to
talk of a most beautiful bluff, is something like talking of “Beauty
and the Beast.” As a substantive, and, in the sense in which it is used
in America, the word is exclusively their own, and it really would not
be fair to call it English. Nevertheless, there is, and shall be, “a
bluff” in the midst of the island of Michilimackinac, rising to the
height of more than three hundred feet above the waters of the lake,
which have been ascertained to be about six hundred feet above the
level of the Atlantic. On the left side of the island is the town, and
above it appeared the fort. In the bay were several trading sloops,
smaller craft, and Indian canoes; and the sun shone brilliantly on the
whole of this enlivening scene, which we saw to the best advantage.
The town may contain about eight hundred inhabitants, exclusively of
the garrison. The Indians are sometimes to be seen in great numbers,
even to the amount of one thousand or one thousand five hundred, who
live in wigwams close to the water’s edge. A wigwam, or Indian village,
is a collection of small tents constructed of matting and birch bark.
The day before, we had met twenty-two canoes in the open lake, each
containing seven or eight Indians, who were going from Mackinac to our
settlement at Pen-y-tang-y-shen, on Lake Huron, to receive their annual
presents from the British government.
Mackinac is the rendezvous of the North-West American missionary
establishment. It contained six missionaries; of whom four were
Presbyterian, one a Catholic, and one of the Church of England, and
a large establishment for the instruction of one hundred children, of
whatever persuasion.
A very curious and regularly shaped natural Gothic arch, on the top of
a rock at the north-eastern side, elevated about two hundred feet above
the level of the lake; a huge isolated calcareous rock; and a small
cave called Skull Cave, are the natural curiosities of the island.