Wisconsin. Its size is accounted for by the fact, that the immense cargoes of grain that are brought from the interior of the State are shipped at Milwaukie for the eastern world. The city stands on a river of the same name, which is navigable for two miles, before it falls into Lake Michigan, for ships of the greatest burthen. We had sailed about a mile up this Milwaukie river, and could see the broad waters of the lake gleaming behind us, along which we were to pursue our northward journey in the course of the forenoon, and after the "Japan" had ended the double process of unloading and reloading-which, as we could observe, was briskly going on. Dr. Morison and myself were greatly astonished at the size and evident commercial importance of the city of Milwaukie. We took a walk through its streets and squares before breakfast, every now and then exclaiming to one another, "What a wonderful country this must be! What capacity for development it seems to possess, and what promise of future progress its past advance gives! Here, upon the shores of a great lake in the far north-west-a lake which not very many years ago was known only to the Indian and the daring huntsman, we wake up and find a city equal in size and bustle to Aberdeen or Dundee in our own country, and yet we are not sure that we ever heard of it before! What a wonderful country, in truth, this must be!" Perhaps it is not much to our credit to confess that we had not heard of Milwaukie before; but commercial men must recollect that names like Melancthon or Mesopotamia were more in our line than Milwaukie. If we had indeed heard the name, we had no idea of the importance of the place till we thus unexpectedly came upon it. And as we gazed upon church after church, with tall and tapering spire, crescents of the residences of the rich, half-hidden among embowering trees, tramway cars beginning to be filled with the early devotees of business, and even circular bridges, and the same amusing competition of ships and citizens as at Chicago, the exclamation again broke forth from the amazed Scottish divines, "What a wonderful place! What a wonderful people!" These circular, or revolving bridges, we began to observe, were quite an American institution for cities bisected by deep rivers, along which ships required to pass. They are rendered specially necessary in Milwaukie by the fact, that not only does the river of the same name flow through the heart of the town, but also that the Menomonee joins it before it enters the lake. By these two streams the city is divided into three portions, called the East, West, and South Divisions. But we found that there were theatres in Milwaukie too; for immense placards in the streets, as we

took our morning walk, informed us that a celebrated dramatic company had visited the place, who were in the act of performing an alarming play, called "Pandemonium." It seemed as if Milton's Paradise Lost were being dramatized for these dwellers by the shore of the sea; and, in good sooth, the performers knew how to issue sensational advertisements. Great pictorial posters, six feet long, covered the walls, representing Satan and his hosts on the one side, and the Son of God and his on the other, in the act of discomfiting the enemy. In one view of it, the thing seemed to be as good as a sermon; but I am afraid that the associations of the performance pleased my reverend companion as little as they did myself; and although we still kept saying, after passing the play-bills, "Wonderful place and wonderful people!" if our secret feelings had been fully expressed, we would have added the word "wicked" to the word "wonderful," and would have been glad if we had been favoured with but the requisite strength and the opportunity of telling to the teeming thousands of Milwaukie, in sober earnest, how "the Son of God had come to destroy the works of the devil."

Milwaukie, in 1840, had a population of only 1,751; whereas, according to the census of 1870, the numbers had swelled to 71,499. Allowing the same ratio of increase, it must soon contain 100,000 inhabitants. It has been called "the Cream City of the Lakes," on account of the peculiar colour of the bricks of which many of the houses are made. Among its more prominent industrial establishments are its flouring mills, at which immense supplies of flour are made daily from the abundant wheat of the neighbourhood.

At eleven A.M. the "Japan's" business at this great port of Wisconsin being accomplished, she began to steam down the Milwaukie river. We had now a good opportunity of seeing the portion of the stream up which we had come in the early morning. Numerous dredging machines at work made it plain that the Milwaukie had been artificially deepened. There seemed to be all kinds of industry in active exercise; for ironworks and shipbuilding yards were in full operation on both sides of the river, into which they had all manner of convenience for launching their goods when ready. At length we passed from the busy stream to the broad lake, whose clear waters were rendered turbid for several furlongs by the brown contributions they were continually receiving from the plains of Wisconsin and its commercial capital. We stood for a long time on the highest deck of the steamer, gazing on the receding and diminishing houses, warehouses, and spires of the Cream City of the Lakes, till they had wholly vanished from our view.

I should, perhaps, have mentioned sooner that the distance between Chicago and Milwaukie is 85 miles, and that just about half-way between the two places the State of Illinois ends and the State of Wisconsin begins. Therefore, as we now steamed northward, we had the State of Wisconsin on our left hand, and that of Michigan on the right. It would have been a great inconvenience if the inhabitants of this latter comparatively populous State had been under the necessity of going away south to Chicago, and sweeping round the bottom of the lake before they could get up to the grain regions of Wisconsin. Consequently a service of steamboats has been established between Grand Haven on the one shore, and Milwaukie on the other; and thus travellers reaching either of these points by rail, and wishing to cross the lake, are immediately ferried over. The distance between the two ports is eighty miles, the average breadth of the lake being seventy.

Not long after Milwaukie grew invisible in the distance, Dr. Morison and myself witnessed a remarkable celestial phenomenon. We had been straining our eyes to catch the last glimpse of the city, as already mentioned; and therefore we were the first on board the "Japan" to witness the strange appearance in the clouds, which began to gather apparently just over vanished Milwaukie. First of all, these clouds assumed a strange cavernous appearance; and it looked as if we could see far into their involved depths. Then the depths became agitated as well as involved; and there appeared to be a battle in the clouds-one mass of ethereal bank being driven and dashed against another. Our minds had not yet got rid of Milwaukie's pictorial advertisements of Pandemonium; and it really seemed, to our somewhat excited imaginations, as if the heavens were about to get up a kind of dramatic display for our special benefit, because we had not had time to wait for the evening performance in the theatre, or would not have attended it, even although our good ship had tarried. The next look, however, which we took of the sky impressed us with the belief that we were soon to have to do with this supernal manœuvre in a way which we did not at first anticipate; for there were the battling clouds rapidly approaching us, and apparently more bent upon fighting with us than with one another! We did not feel the wind at first which was agitating these clouds in their higher region; but at length the tempest, which had driven them about, burst upon us below. The cry was raised now for every one to get under cover; for a strange, lurid, lead-like darkness had crept over sea and sky, as when the sun is eclipsed-calling the

attention of the captain and first mate to the remarkable appearance of the heavens. We had encountered what is called a Summer White Squall; and it was plain that any diminutive craft, like an ordinary yacht, would have been swept off the face of the waters by the terrible blast which accompanied that terrible darkness. Then the lightning gleamed, the thunder rolled, and the rain descended copiously; and when the clear sky appeared again, we were told that the White Squall had passed away. The captain and first mate both informed us that, although they had sailed upon the American lakes for years, they had never seen such a strange commotion in the clouds before. We had thus good reason to congratulate ourselves that we had seen a far more splendid battle in the heavens than the inhabitants of Milwaukie would see that night in the stifling theatre.

But the remarkable atmospheric disturbance was not yet. over, or rather, it soon became manifest that the white squall was only the precursor of a still more serious and permanent inconvenience. We did not know that fog was one of the peculiarities of these northern lakes, and one of the causes of danger. The captain and his men, however, knew their old enemy well; and whenever the mist began to appear an hour or two after the white squall had spent its fury, they forthwith prepared, like practised habitues, to accommodate themselves to the altered state of things. First, the speed of the "Japan" was diminished from ten or twelve miles to six, then to four; and ultimately, as we became more and more densely enveloped in the vapoury cloud, to two miles an hour. Little did we think when the obscuration began at three P.M., on Thursday, that it would last till three P.M., on Friday, and that for twentyfour hours we would be groping our way gingerly at this slackened, snail-like rate. Nor was our position free from danger; for Lake Michigan is quite a highway for ships, laden either with grain or timber, as I have already explained; and, besides, the northern end of the lake is studded with islands and islets, as even an ordinary map will make manifest. But we gathered confidence when we looked in the faces of the captain, the first mate, and indeed of all the crew. They were collected, vigilant, and prepared for any emergency. groan is that which is beginning to be emitted, about every third minute, and when other vessels are known to be near, every minute or half minute? That is not, indeed, our minute gun of distress; but our minute groan of alarm or caution. My readers will recollect that in my description of a sail on the Ohio, I noticed that the whistle of the steamer was liker a groan than a whistle, and the same remark holds true of this

What

larger vessel on the fog-enveloped lake. And hark! what sound is that at no great distance? That is a steamer that has heard our whistle, replying. There, again, it is quite near us! And yet again we hear it after it has passed, and there is no danger of a concussion now! But how important that the whistles should have been sounded; for without them we would, in all likelihood, have come in contact with some Chicago-bound bark. Once, after the darkness of night had descended, the responsive whistle was so near us that we all startled when we heard it close by our side; but surely the hand of a gracious Providence was guiding us, as well as our cautious steersman-and so the danger passed by. Yet our circumstances were calculated to make our evening prayer earnest and sincere, especially when we read, as we undressed, the following directions, which were printed on the door of every little bedroom in the "Japan"-" In case of disaster, this door can be lifted off the hinges. It will support two persons in the water." I may add that, when sailing vessels came near us, they rang a bell as their signal; and the "Japan" gave each of them duly a groan in return for their melodious intonation.

Day broke dimly and drearily on Friday morning, if indeed it could be said to break at all; since the atmosphere was fully as opaque as it had been on the previous afternoon. All forenoon, the whistling and the ringing continued; and I must confess, that about mid-day we began to get discouraged, not knowing how long this state of matters might continue. Besides, we got another fright at noon; for a ship passed so close to the "Japan," that there could not be many yards between her and us. Yet we could only see her sails and masts, as if they were far, far away. She was seen dimly but for an instant, and then completely lost in the darkness. I felt disposed to call her The Phantom Ship.

About three P.M., we began to think that we could see a little more distinctly before and behind. In a few minutes there was no doubt of it. Then a ray of sunlight darted through the fog; and forthwith the vapoury envelope was lifted up, like the veil at the unveiling of a statue; and we once more looked upon the beautiful face of sea and sky. And, even as a sinner, when he comes to a knowledge of the truth, and the fog of unbelief departs, often sees his danger more fully than when he was mourning over it in darkness, so did we, on the occasion of this return of light, on the Lake of Michigan; for we found that we were in the midst of rocky islands, that we had known nothing of. Not only were there islands before us, but there were islands also behind us; and we felt disposed to eulogize much the dexterous seamanship