I found the sandstone formation of Cape Iroquois to reappear at the western termination of these heights on the open shores of the lake, where I noticed imbedded nodules of granular gypsum. At this point, known to our men as La Pointe des Grandes Sables, we pitched our tents, at nightfall, under a very threatening state of the atmosphere. The winds soon blew furiously, followed by a heavy rain-storm--and sharp thunder and lightning ensued. Our line of tents stood on a gently rising beach, within fifty yards of the margin of the lake, where they were prostrated during the night by the violence of the waves. The rain still continued at early daylight, the waves dashing in long swells upon the shore. At sunrise the tempest abated, and by eight o'clock the atmosphere assumed a calm and delightful aspect. It was eleven o'clock, however, before the waves sufficiently subsided to permit embarkation. Indeed, a perfect calm now ensued. This calm proved very favorable--as we discovered on proceeding three leagues--to our passing the elevated coast of precipitous rock, called Ishpäbecä,[44] and Pictured Rocks. This coast, which extends twelve miles, consists of a gray sandstone, forming a series of perpendicular façades, which have been fretted, by the action of the waves, into the rude architecture of pillared masses, and open, cavernous arches. These caverns present their dark mouths to observation as the voyager passes. At one spot a small stream throws itself from the cliffs into the lake at one leap. In some instances the cliffs assume a castellated appearance. At the spot called the Doric Rock, near the commencement of these picturesque precipices, a vast entablature rests on two immense rude pillars of the water-worn mass. At a point called Le Portail, the vast wall of rock had been so completely excavated and undermined by the lake, that a series of heavy strata of rock rested solely on a single pillar standing in the lake. The day was fine as we passed these geological ruins, and we sat silently gazing on the changing panorama. At one or two points there are small streams which break the line of rock into quadrangles. A species of dark red clay overlies this formation, which has been carried by the rains over the face of the cliffs, where, uniting with the atmospheric sand and dust, it gives the whole line a pictorial appearance. We almost held our breath in passing the coast; and when, at night, we compared our observations around the camp-fire, there was no one who could recall such a scene of simple novelty and grandeur in any other part of the world; and all agreed that, if a storm should have arisen while we were passing, inevitable destruction must have been our lot. We came to Grand Island at a seasonable hour in the evening, and encamped on the margin of its deep and land-locked harbor. Our camp was soon filled with Chippewas from a neighboring village. They honored us in the evening by a dance.