remarkable, is the exact parallelism of the summit of these sands. There are dense woods to the east and west of them; and the wonder seems, how this part of the coast should have been stripped of its original forest, and its light materials subjected to be whirled, by every storm, in showers of sand, and yet preserve its parallel summit lines. As the sun struck its full rays against these banks, they assumed the whiteness of stone, and stood out like vast structures of marble. The air whistles over these bleak and denuded heights, with a force that makes it difficult to keep one's breath.
We landed on the narrow belt of sand, at the foot of these sandy elevations. The acclivity is less abrupt than it appears, at a distance, and does not probably exceed an angle of sixty degrees with the horizon. In a few moments, the entire party, children and men, were in motion, on its ascent, and the strife seemed to be, who should seale it first. I admired the stalwart strength of one of our Chippewa guides, who, seeing the renewed efforts of my son, a boy of nine, to disentangle his feet from the yielding and rolling sand, took him by the hands, and mounted the acclivity, as with the strength of a giant. Having ascended, on a prior occasion, and Mrs. S. being an invalid in the boat, I amused myself along the beach below, while the others went up to explore the summits of this northern Sahara. They brought down, on their return, small fragments of granitic stone, of a vitreous lustre, having somewhat the appearance of volcanic action, together with minute but well-characterized specimens of red cornelian. This is, I think, the original locality of the coricus pitcheri, and we procured here also a number of specimens of a plant, from the root of which the Indians extract a most beautiful carmine.
In my inquiries of the Indians respecting their oral superstitions, I found that these dunes were regarded as a vast, magnificent palace, the interior of which is inhabited by a class of powerful spirits, or necromancers, recognised in their mythology. The inmates, according to these tales, had only to thrust their hands through the windows, to obtain their fish from the lake. On these sands the natives also affect to point out the tracks of their Puk Wudj Ininees, or little men, which are a species of Lilliputians, or fairies. There is a bright and beautiful lake, called Leelinau, about half a mile back from the brink of the precipice, which cannot be less than two hundred feet above the level of the lake. Nothing can be more beautifully wild and sylvan than its shores, covered as they are with thrifty oaks, and spotted with shrubbery to its very borders.
IV.
Pusabikong, 1838.
As we drew near the precipitous coast called Azhebik, or Pictured Rocks, I directed the man to keep close under the cliffs, being aware that they appear to better advantage from a near view. The day was one of the pleasantest of the season, with the lake calm, and not a cloud to intercept the full rays of the sun; so that the shadow of the rocks upon the water constituted no small part of our enjoyment. For hours, we fixed our gaze on the varying scene. The rock rises abruptly from the water, and ascends to the height of several hundred feet. It is not, however, the grandeur of altitude that constitutes the leading impression. It would not be difficult to refer to more ele-
