streets. Camden is one of the most flourishing towns in the State, and possesses great advantages for trade, being at the head of navigation for large steamers, several of which are constantly employed in conveying produce down the river to New Orleans. The growth of this place has been very rapid, and is likely to continue so. It was settled about 1842. The site was formerly a rendezvous for hunters, and known as "Ecore a Fabre."

Batesville, a thriving town, capital of Independence County, is on White River, about 400 miles from its mouth, 90 miles north-northeast of Little Rock, and 115 miles from Memphis, Tennessee. Small steamers can ascend the river to this point at nearly all seasons. Α great influx of emigration is directed to this section of the State, which offers strong inducements in soil and climate. Pine timber and waterpower are abundant in the county. Batesville is the most important town in the north-east part of the State, and has an active trade. It contains, besides the county buildings, several churches and newspaper offices.

Fort Smith, a town, and a noted military post, is situated in Lebanon County, on the right bank of the Arkansas River, 163 miles by land west-north-west of Little Rock, and at the western boundary of the State, in latitude 34° 45', and longitude 95°. It has had an extensive trade with the Indian tribes.

MICHIGAN.

MICHIGAN became a State of the American Union in January, 1837, and was the thirteenth State admitted under the Federal Constitution. It lies between latitude 41° 40′ and 48° 20' north, and longitude 82° 25' and 90° 34' west. It is bounded north by Lake Superior, which separates it from British America; east by St. Mary's Strait, or river, Lake Huron, St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, and Lake Erie; south by Ohio and Indiana, and west by Lake Michigan and the Menomonee and Montreal Rivers, with the chain of lakes lying between their head-waters. The land area of the State is 56,243 square miles, or 35,995,520 acres, being 1.91 per cent. of the total area of the United States.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.-Michigan consists of two irregular peninsulas, which are separated from each other by the upper ends of Lakes Michigan and Huron. The upper, or northern, peninsula comprises about one-third of the area of the State, and is bounded on the north by Lake Superior, on the east by St. Mary's Strait, which divides it from Canada, on the south by Lakes Huron and Michigan, and on the south-west by Wisconsin. From its north-west extremity, the Lake Superior shore trends north-east for a distance of about one hundred miles, to the end of Keweenaw Point, a long peninsula running out

into the lake. On the east side of this point is Keeweenaw Bay. Thence to Whitefish Point the coast line presents a regular undulation, with scarcely any good harbors. At Whitefish Point it bends sharply to the south, and afterward to the east, inclosing with the Canada shore the deep basin known as Tequamenon Bay, from the head of which flows St. Mary's Strait. At the mouth of this strait lie several islands, Drummond's Island, which belongs to Michigan, being of considerable size. The Lake Huron shore, extending thence westward to the Straits of Mackinaw, is much broken, and lined with islets. It is separated from Lake Michigan by the peninsula called Pointe St. Ignace. The shore of Lake Michigan is irregular, but offers no large inlets till Green Bay is reached, which opens from the northwest corner of the lake. More than half of the north and west shores of the bay belong to Michigan, and just within its mouth are two inlets extending northward, called the Big and Little Bays des Noquets.

The general aspect of the northern peninsula is rugged and picturesque. The Porcupine Mountains, which form the tributary ridge between the waters of Lake Superior and those of Lake Michigan, are about 2,000 feet high on the western boundary, and run east, broken here and there by extensive valleys, and throwing off spurs, which, in some cases, extend to the northern shore. The mountains are succeeded by plains and hills, which gradually extend into the elevated table-land, and finally into an undulating country, sloping on either hand toward the lakes. The greater portion of this region is occupied by vast forests, and much of the remainder by sandy plains.

The northern peninsula contains most of the mineral wealth of the State, but its soil is generally sterile. The southern peninsula is, in nearly every respect, a contrast to the northern. It lies between Lakes Huron and Michigan, and is bounded on the south-west by the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and Lake Erie. The Lake Huron shore is broken by Thunder Bay toward the north, and Saginaw Bay near the center. There are several inlets on Lake Michigan, the chief of which are Great and Little Traverse Bays. The surface is generally level, although on the south there is an irregular cluster of conical hills, from thirty to two hundred feet high; a low water-shed, at an elevation of six hundred or seven hundred feet, passes through the country from south to north, much nearer to the eastern than the western shore, with a very gradual and almost unbroken slope toward Lake Michigan, except near Au Sable River, where it partakes of a rugged character. The shores on both sides are, in many places, steep and elevated, and on Lake Michigan especially, there are numerous bluffs and sand-hills, from one hundred to three hundred feet high. The soil of the southern peninsula is luxuriantly fertile.

GEOLOGY.-The lower or southern peninsula of Michigan is composed almost wholly of groups of the Appalachian series of rocks, the highest of which, the coal formation, occupies the central portion of the country, from which the streams flow on one side into Lake Huron, and on the other into Lake Michigan. Though this is the most

elevated portion of the peninsula, the surface is little more than moderately rolling, the structure horizontal, and the bituminous coal-beds lie mostly too low to be worked without raising the water by pumping. The coal-field is open to the lake by Saginaw Bay, the shores of which are mostly in this formation. It extends as far south as Jackson, on the line of the Michigan Central Railroad, where a bed four feet thick has been opened and worked ninety feet below the surface. From the difficulty of obtaining coal in large quantities, but little is shipped.

Around the coal-field the underlying carboniferous limestone crops out in a narrow belt, and contains, in some localities, gypseous shales and some plaster of paris. To this succeeds the wider outcrop of the slates and sandstones of the Portage and Chemung groups, which stretch along the shores of both Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The limestones and other strata of the Helderberg and Niagara groups surround these, sweeping around into northern Ohio and Indiana, and eastern Wisconsin, and forming the island of Mackinaw and the point of the peninsula south of this island. The mineral produc tions found in these formations are of no great importance. The limestones give fertility to the soil, and are abundantly supplied for all the purposes they can serve.

From the shores of Lake Huron, near Thunder Bay, an excellent stone is quarried for grindstones; and near Saginaw Bay salt-water is obtained by boring. The northern peninsula of Michigan is for the most part composed of the azoic formations, designated by the Canadian geologists the Laurentian and Huronian; the former comprising the various metaphoric slates and gneiss rocks, and the latter overlying slates and sandstones, which, by many geologists, had previously been referred to the lowest of the paleozoic formations. With the latter are found intercalated masses of trap, and with these the great veins of copper which the Lake Superior region is particularly distinguished. With the former, the range of which is south of the copper region, and also to to the east of it, are found the immense bodies of magnetic and specular iron ores, for which the Lake Superior region has become so famous within a few years past.

THE LAKE SUPERIOR REGION.-Lake Superior presents an area of 32,000 square miles. It lies between the 46th and 49th parallels of latitude, and 88° and 92° of longitude west of Greenwich. Its greatest length is 400 miles. Its greatest breadth from Grand Island to Neepigon Bay is 160 miles. The surface of the lake is 600 feet above the level of the Atlantic Ocean; but its bottom is 300 feet below; for it has a mean depth of 900 feet. The French, who were the first explorers of Lake Superior, fancifully described it as a watery bow, of which the southern shore was the string, and Keweenaw Point the arrow. The lake discharges through the St. Mary's Strait into Lake Huron, which occupies a lower level by 44 feet 8 inches. The strait is about 70 miles long, but is divided into two sections by the Falls of St. Mary, 15 miles below Lake Superior. The lower section is navigable for small steamboats, and vessels drawing six feet of water. This section contains four large islands and several smaller ones; but

the principal channel-the westerly one-is nearly a mile in width. The Falls of St. Mary, or more properly, rapids, are three-fourths of a mile in length, having a fall in that distance, of 21 feet and 10 inches. The two sections are now united by a steamboat and ship canal.

Following along the indentations of the southern shore, around the westerly extremity of the lake, to Arrow River, opposite to Isle Royale, will give the extreme length of the American coast, which can not be much less than 1,000 miles; a part of which is in Michigan, part in Wisconsin, and part in Minnesota. Lake Superior is walled in by rocks, which, in some places, are piled in mountain masses upon the very shore. The waves dash against precipices and beetling crags, that threaten the unfortunate mariner, in a storm upon a lee shore, with almost inevitable destruction. There is tolerable anchorage at the head of St. Mary's strait. Keweenaw point has two sheltering bays, viz., Copper harbor and Eagle harbor. Protection may be found from the surf, under the lee of the Apostle Islands, at La Pointe. St. Louis River, at the head of the lake, is a good harbor; but the best harbors are afforded by the indentations of the shores of Isle Royale.

"Owing to the lofty crags which surround Lake Superior, the winds, sweeping over the lake, impign upon its surface so abruptly as to raise a peculiarly deep and combing sea, which is extensively dangerous to boats and small craft. It is not safe, on this account, to venture far out into the lake in batteaus; and hence, voyagers generally hug the shore, in order to be able to take land, in case of sudden storms. During the months of June, July, and August, the navigation of the lake is ordinarily safe; but after the middle of September, great caution is required in navigating its waters; and boatmen of experience never venture far from land, or attempt long traverses across the bays. The boats are always drawn far up on the land at every camping-place for the night, lest they should be staved to pieces by the surf, which is liable, at any moment, to rise and beat with great fury upon the beaches."

One of the most curious phenomena of the lake is the sudden and inexplicable heaving and swelling of its waters, when the air is still. Mr. Schoolcraft, who passed over Lake Superior, in 1820, thus describes it: "Although it was calm, and had been so all day, save a light breeze for a couple of hours after leaving the Ontonagon, the waters near the shore were in a perfect rage, heaving and lashing upon the rocks in a manner which rendered it difficult to land. At the same time, scarce a breath of air was stirring, and the atmosphere was beautifully serene. Now this agitation was observed at the close of the day's voyage, which had carried the party 50 miles from the Ontonagon, and the slight breeze had been blowing only a little while in the morning.

Another noticeable feature of Lake Superior is the extraordinary purity and transparency of the water, through which every pebble may be distinctly seen at the depth of 25 feet. When out in a canoe upon its surface, the frail vessel does not seem to be afloat upon a watery element, but suspended in mid-air, with ethereal depths around and below.

Those who have visited Lake George-the world-famous Horicon, whose waters were at one time carried to Rome to fill the Papal fonts-and Lake Superior, affirm that the latter far surpasses the former in clearness and transparency. Indeed, they assure us that, often, while looking down from the height at which the boat seems suspended, the head will grow dizzy, and a feeling of faintness be superinduced. The water of Lake Superior, like that of Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, is "hard" and unfit for laundry purposes, without a previous breaking by soda or other means. This can be accounted for only on the supposition that it rolls over calcareous beds in some part of its course, but what part has not yet been ascertained; for the water of all the streams and springs that flow into the lake, so far as they have been examined, is found to be "soft," and so entirely free from earthy or other foreign matter, "that the daguerreotypist finds it better for his purposes than the best distilled water of the chemist."

Not less peculiar is the atmosphere around and over the lake, which plays strange and fantastic tricks in the face of high heaven, seeming to possess a life and spirit strictly in unison with the wonderful expanse of waters that lies spread out below. The mirage of Lake Superior fills the spectator with astonishment. For weeks during the summer, the trav eler along the shores of this inland sea may be gratified by a view of the most curious phantasmagoria-images of mountains and islands being vividly represented in all their outlines, with their tufts of evergreen trees, precipices, and rocky pinnacles, all inverted in the air, and hang. ing high over their terrestrial originals, and then again repeated upright in another picture directly above the inverted one. Rock harbor, in Isle Royale, is the most noted locality for observing these phantasmagoria. But the mirage is not confined to any particular part of the lake. Frequently, the voyager, long before he has come in sight of land, will see the coast he is approaching pictured upon the skies along the horizon; and after the real shore has appeared, three views of it will be presented— two right side up, according to the order of creation, and the middle one bottom upward. Vessels will appear to be sailing in the air, points of land bent up at right-angles, and the sun at setting twisted into astonishishing shapes.

The skies and the waters seem to harmonize completely together. While the sky daguerreotypes all below, the water catches the tints of all that is above, and the ethereal dome is caverned in the deep. Mr. Jackson, United States Geologist, says of the lake: "The color of the water, affected by the hues of the sky, and holding no sediment to dim its transparency, presents deeper tints than are seen on the lower lakesdeep tints of blue, green, and red prevailing, according to the color of the sky and clouds. I have seen at sunset the surface of the lake off Isle Royale of a deep claret color-a tint much richer than ever is reflected from the waters of other lakes, or in any other country I have visited."

Lake Superior, unlike Lake Huron, has but few islands. The largest of these are Grand Island, situated near the southern shore, 132 miles west of St. Mary's, and represented to have a deep and land-locked