NATURAL HISTORY.
{"newspaper_name": "The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware register.", "edition": "01", "page": "p1", "byline": "PICTURED ROCKS\nOF LAKE srpEnI0R."}



Upon the southern coast of Lake Supe-
rior, about fifty miles from the falls of st.
Mary's, are the immense PERCEPTIONS cliffs,
called by the voyageurs, lie Portal, and the
"Pictured Rocks" This name has been
given to them, in consequence of the differ
cnt appearances which they present to the
traveller, as he passes their base in his ca
noe, 1t requires little aid from the imagl-
nation, to discern in them the castellated
tower the lofty dome, spires and pinnrcles,
and every sublime, grotcsque, or fantastic
shape, which the genius of architecture has
ever invented. These cliffs arc unbroken
mass of rocks, rising to the elevation Of
three hundred feet above the level of the
Lake, and stretching along the coast for fit
teen miles. The voyageurs never pass this
coast except in the most profound calm; and
the Indians before they make the attempt
sffer their accustomed oblations, to propiti-
| ate the favor of the Manitous. The eye
instictively searches along this eternal ram
part for single place of security: But the
search is in vain-With an impossible bar
ricr of rocks on one side, and an intermna-
| hle cxDanse of water on the other, a sudden
storm upon the lake would as inevitably in


sure destruction to the passenger III his tran
canoe. as ifhe were on the brink OF the catar-


act of Niagara. The rock itscifisa sandstone
which is disintegratcd by tile continued ac-


ton of the water, with comparative facili
tv. There are no broken masses upor
+ which the eye can rest and find relief
'>he lake is. SO deep that these masses
, as they are torn from the precipices arr


concealed beneath its waters uAtill the.
+ arc reduced to sand. The action OF thu


waves rhas undermined every projecting
; point; and there, the immense preciipic
, r,.sts upon arches, and the foundation is in
: tersected BY cayerns extending in ever.


direction. when we passed this might
q fabric of nature, the wind was still am


lake calm But even the Slight motion c