Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, BY GOULD, KENDALL & LINCOLN, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 208766 BOSTON: Damrell & Moore, Printers, 16 Devonshire Street. PREFACE. THE main object of the excursion, the results of which are given in the following pages, was a purely scientific one, viz. the study of the Natural History of the northern shore of Lake Superior. Another end proposed by Professor Agassiz, was, to afford to those of the party who were unaccustomed to the practical investigation of natural phenomena, an opportunity of exercising themselves under his direction. The party was composed of the following gentlemen: Prof. Agassiz and Dr. William Keller, instructors, and Messrs. George Belknap and Charles G. Kendall, students, of the Lawrence Scientific School; Messrs. James McC. Lea, George H. Timmins, and Freeman Tompkins, of the Dane Law School; Messrs. Eugene A. Hoffman, Charles G. Loring, Jonathan C. Stone, and Jefferson Wiley, of the senior class of Harvard College; Messrs. Joseph P. Gardner and J. Elliot Cabot, of Boston; Drs. John L. Le Conte and Arthur Stout, of New York; and M. Jules Marcou, of Paris. Interspersed throughout the Narrative are reports, carefully made at the time, of the Professor's remarks on various points of Natural History, that seemed to him likely to interest a wider circle than those more particularly addressed in the second part of the book, which consists of papers on various points connected with the Natural History of the region, written, where not otherwise specified, by Prof. Agassiz. This portion of the work, however, does not aim at a mere detail of facts, but is intended to show the bearing of these facts upon general questions. The Landscape Illustrations are taken from sketches made on the spot, by Mr. Cabot. Those of the Second Part were drawn and lithographed by Mr. Sonrel, a Swiss artist of much distinction in this branch, and formerly employed by Prof. Agassiz at Neuchatel, but now resident in this country. BOSTON, MARCH, 1850. |