Eighteen miles north of Lake Erie, it stretches with its suburbs about five miles along the river, and the central part extends for about two miles back from the shore. Approaching the city, we were more and more delighted with its attractive appearance. The streets, from fifty to 100 feet wide, are for the most part ornamented with rows of trees. A number of avenues, having an unusual width, diverge from the Grand Circus, a spacious park semi-circular in form, which is divided into two quadrants by Woodward Avenue. Connected with the former is the Campus Martius, a public place about 600 feet long and 250 feet wide. Detroit comprises many magnificent structures. One of the chief public buildings is the city hall, facing the Campus Martius, with fronts on four streets. It counts among the finest edifices of the kind in the west. Built of sandstone, it is designed after the Italian style of architecture, surmounted by a tower 180 feet high. Its cost amounted to $600,000. Other prominent structures are the opera house, the office of the Board of Trade, the custom house, and the Roman Catholic cathedral. The commercial facilities of the city are very extensive. The Detroit River is a connecting link in the great chain of lake navigation, and affords the best harbor on the inland-seas. Detroit is not only the center of a great railroad system; more than 350 vessels are owned here, and numerous daily lines of steamers run to various points of the lakes. Its manufacturing industries are very important and consist of iron, flour, tobacco, cigars, lumber, and bricks. The extensive Pullman Car Works are situated here; also one of the seven pin factories in the United States. Settled by the French, early in the eighteenth century, Detroit passed into the hands of the English in 1763. It was then besieged for eleven months by the Indian chief Pontiac; ceded to the Americans in 1783, but not occupied by them till 1796. As a city, it was incorporated in 1824; and its present population is estimated to be 235,000. It was the capital of Michigan from 1837 till 1847, when that honor was transferred to Lansing. Having traversed Detroit River, we entered _Lake St. Clair_, a sheet of water eighteen miles long and twenty-two miles wide. This small lake has many extensive sand-banks covered with a depth of water varying from six to ten feet. Previous to 1858, much inconvenience was experienced in navigating it, owing to the insufficient depth, but the governments of the United States and Canada have dredged a canal through the bed of the lake, comprising a width of 300 feet. Since then, this channel has been deepened so as to enable vessels drawing fifteen feet to pass with safety from lake to lake in stormy weather. After the expiration of a few hours we reached _River St. Clair_, whose luxuriant border exhibited a magnificent panorama.