geur.

canoes.

There is no room for the legs of such people, in these But if he shall stop growing at about five feet four inches, and be gifted with a good voice, and lungs that never tire, he is considered as having been born under a most favourable star.

Passing out of Lake Huron, and into the river St. Clair, we arrived at the light-house, near Fort Gratiot, at a quarter past seven o'clock, P. M.; having come, since three o'clock this morning, against a strong head wind, sixty miles.

When about twelve miles from the light-house, we saw the first evidences of our approach upon the borders of civilized life, since we left Mackinac. The first evidence I saw was a log of wood which had been cut with a saw, a process to which a log has never yet been subject in those regions, in the hands of an Indian. The next was a hut built of logs; it is true it was not occupied, but it had been built by white people. An Indian's house must be of such materials as he can take with him-hence he resorts to mats and bark, to cover in his frame of poles. These he can take off and roll up, and bear away with him at a moment's warning. The next, and all within three miles, was another log house, which poured out its population, big and little, from the mother to the infant in the arms of a younger sister, all in a row, listening to the chaunting of our voyageurs, and gazing at our ornamented canoe, and at the flag, which the breeze blew out, and made crack, Near this were preparations for building a mill, and a raft, several white men, three yoke of oxen, and large quantities of bark piled up along the lake shore, doubtless "for Detroit and a market."

All this may be thought unworthy of being noted-and so, indeed, it is; except to justify the remark, that no one can form any conception, after having been long shut out from every object, to remind one of civilized life, of the animation, and even tumult, of the feelings which a sight of these first and rude vestiges of civilization, occasions. I felt the impression made by them, deeply and joyfully.-J

looked upon them as, at least, the frame work of the picture which my eyes long to see.

I knew there was a light-house near Fort Gratiot, and learned it had been erected chiefly for the guidance of vessels coming down Lake Huron; and that they might enter the river St. Clair, and shape their course into the rapids in safety. My surprize was great on nearing that point which terminates the lake, and within a mile of the light, as I afterwards learned, to find that there was no light. I inferred, as the moon shone, that the light from it might have been deemed sufficient. I was, however, undeceived, when within half a mile of it, by seeing the light bright and burning. The conclusion I have come to is, that the light-house is out of place; and this is the less excusable, as the point of land which forms the entrance into the river projects well out, and from it the beacon could be seen far up the lake, guiding the mariner on both the northern and southern shores. It appears, from what I can learn, that the builder put up this light for his own accommodation, and not that of the public. His accounts, I also learn, were not allowed by the agent in this quarter, in whom the right of judging had been vested, and for the very reason that the light-house had been erected on precisely that spot of ground of all others the least suited to it. But he was, nevertheless, paid-how, I do not know. It is very certain, however, that he departed from the orders of this agent as to the spot on which it was directed to be built, and placed it where it is wholly out of the way, and unsuited to the ends contemplated in its erection. It would answer almost the same purpose were it built on Hog island, at Detroit, as to any advantages which it is to the navigators of the St. Clair, and of Lake Huron; and there would have been the same propriety in paying for it in the one case, as in the other.

It is said that the English, in the late war, authorized Sir James Yeo to cause the necessary apparatus to be constructed for furnishing his fleet with fresh water on Lake Ontario; the design being, by a chemical process, to turn the salt

water of that lake, into fresh! This certainly evidenced, to say the least of it, a lack of right information in the British government as to the saline quality of the water of these lakes. But has not this lack of right information its full parallel in the call for an estimate of the cost of digging a well, as one of the items in the then proposed expenditure for the erection of the light-house at Fort Gratiot? The object was, of course, to get fresh water for the mason work!

There never need be included in any proposals that may be made hereafter for building light-houses, on any of these lakes, this item of the cost of digging a well; for no well, any where, can be found to produce water more fresh, or better suited, in all respects, for building, or more delightful to drink, than the water of these lakes, and which runs in millions of tons every minute by the very base of the lighthouse at Fort Gratiot, and within reach of any man's hand, and at the very spot where it was proposed to pay the cost of digging a well to get some; and so, if you are acquainted with the officer at Washington who is charged with this branch of the government business, you may tell him.

There is another objection to this light-house.-It is too low, unless it stood on elevated ground. This is the fault, also, with that at Buffaloe, and a second appropriation has been made by Congress, I believe, to rebuild it. This at Fort Gratiot will have to be not only rebuilt, but removed, and the sooner it is done, the better.

We took some refreshment at Fort Gratiot, (a fort in name only,) and at half past ten at night, trusted ourselves to the current with only one man to steer, the rest went to sleep. I saw, as we glided noiselessly along, several flambeaux on both sides of the river, and heard the same sounds of the spear, and the occasional motion of the paddles that we had remarked on our way up. By twelve o'clock all these lights were extinguished, and the silence of night rested undisturbed on every thing, and on both sides of the river. After four hours sleep, our men were waked up, and taking to