Far beyond the white man's daring Sits the lordly Indian lone, Gazing on that rich creation Heaven, he deems, hath made his own. Length, and depth, and speed, and volume, All that swell o'er swell, create-- These, perchance, thy sounds would tell me, These, these only, make thee great. 'Tis not clearness--'tis not brightness, Such as dwell in mountain brooks-- 'Tis thy big, big, boiling torrent-- 'Tis thy wild and angry looks. Flow then, river--rushing river-- Flow, till thou invade the sea; Many millions, uncreated, Shall desire thy waves to see. But while millions uncreated, Sigh o'er millions pass'd away, Thou shalt roll, in all thy splendor, Till thy Maker bids thee stay. H. R. S. _Washington_. SKETCHES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. No part of America presents a more ample field of scenic attractions than the lake referred to. In some respects these attractions are peculiar. It is not only the largest body of fresh water on the continent, but pre-eminently so, the largest in the world. Titicaca, the greatest lake of South America, is computed to be two hundred and forty miles in circumference--a circle less than Ontario, and falling infinitely short of Erie, Huron or Michigan. Superior is about ten miles short of five hundred, in its most direct line of coast, and may be computed at fifteen hundred miles in circumference.[1] About one third of this is caused by its promontories and inlets, which give it a striking irregularity of outline. The direct line of inland navigation, which would be opened were the rapids at St. Mary's overcome, would be about twelve hundred and sixty miles in the outward voyage. It possesses several fine harbors and anchorage grounds. Its general features may be inferred from the maps, but no existing map can be relied on for the accuracy of its delineations. Its basin consists of massy formations of primitive rock, with dykes of trap, and horizontal walls of sandstone, giving rise to much variety in its features. Islands, mountains and cliffs, pass the eye of the voyager, with an animating succession, and appear as if they were suspended in the pellucid waters, for which this lake has been noted from the earliest times. This purity may be noticed in connexion with the absence of limestone among its formations, no locality of which {167} has hitherto been discovered. It has, apparently, been the theatre of extensive geological convulsions, which have lifted up its horizontal rocks for a hundred and twenty miles in extent. Other portions bear striking evidences of having been submitted to oceanic action, the effect of which has been to break down its sandstone coasts, and deposit the _debris_ in extensive plains, or sand mountains. Peaks, of a black basaltic aspect, cast their angular shadows over some of the more westerly portions of the lake; and the prospect from some of the higher points