North-Carolina Chronicle; or Fayetteville Gazette

              x h e north carolina chronicle ; or fayettevillt gazette — r no 15 of vol ii j m o n d a y december 20 1790 — total no 67 histort ianoes and fmall vefitls by affording them hclter as without this fecurity it t/ould not be prudent to venture acrofsfo wide a tea and the coa'ting round the b;ty would make the voyage long and te dious this bay is about eighty miles in length and in general about eighteen or twenty miles broad nearly half way between saganaurn bay and the north weil corner of the lake lies another which is termed thun der bay the indians who have fre quented thefe parts from lime immemo rial and every f^urr pean traveller that has pailcd through it have unanimoufiy agreed to call it by this name on account of the continual thunder they hare always obierved here the jay is about nine miles broad and the fame in length and whilii i was palling over it which took me up near twenty-four hours it thun dered and lightened during the greatcit part of the time to anexcefiive degree there appeared to be no vihble rcaibn for this that i could diicover nor is the country in general i'ubjcdt to thunder ; the hills that ftood around were not of a remarkable heigt neither did the exter nal parts of them feem to be covered with any fulphurecus fubftance but as this phxr.omer.on nmft originate front feme natural caufe i conjecture that the fhores of the bay or the adjacent moun tains are cither impregnated with an un common quantity of fulphureous matter cr contain foine mental or mineral apt to attras in a great degree the electrical [ ar ticles that are houily borne over them by th paifant clouds but the ablution of this and thofe other philofophical re marks which cafually occur throughout theic pages i leave to the diicuflion of abler heads korth-eaft corner this lake has 1 eom i:.unicaticn with lake michegan by the fixaights of michilli*i*ckinac already def crilied carver's travels i had like to have omitted a tery ex traordinary circumftance relative to thefe ft mights according to obfervations made by the french whilft they vcre in pnfleffion of the fort although there is no diurnal flood gr ebb to be perceired in thefe waters yet from anexaft attention to their hare a periodical alteration in them has been difcovered it vas ob ferved that they rofe by gradual but al moft imperceptible degrees till they had reached the height of about three feet this was acccmplifhed in feven 3 ears and an half and in the iamc fpace they as gently decrealed till they had reached their former ikuation j fo that in fifteen years they had completed this inexplica ble revolution atthetiir.el waa there the truth f>f thtfe obfervations could not be connimed by the englijh as they hid been only a few ye>ars in poileffion of the fort but they all agreed that feme alte ration in the limits of the ftraights vas apparent all thefe lakes are fo affcc\ed by tha winds as foxsctimes to have the appearance of a tide according as they happen to blow but ih'u is only tempo ral y and partial a great rubber of the chipeway in dians live fcattercd around this lake par ticularly near saganaum bay on its banks are fcund as amazing quantity of the fand cherrirs and in the adjaceat country nearly the fame fruits as thofe that grow about the other lakes continued r y he ftraightsof st marie are about jl forty miles long bearing south t..i bat varying much ia their bread rh the current between the falls and lake huron is not fo rapid as might be tx.)jftcj nor do they prevent the navi j iuion orfliips of bu 1 jen as for up as the isknd of st jofeph u has beea obiefved hr travellers that th entrance into l\'<t 8up:ricr from theie ftraj^hts affords one of ih-i mod pic fir.g profpe&s in the worlj the plac ia which this might be viewed to the greased advantage is jufl at the opening oh the like from whence may be feen on the leit many ba^utli ul littlo iflands that extend a confiderable way be fore yow ; and on the right an agreed me fucc«ffionofiknall points of land that jjrojsfl a little way into the waiter and contribute with the iilmds to render this delightful bafon vis it might be termed calm and fecurc from the rava ges of thofe tempeftuous winds b.y which tjie adjoining lake is frequently trou bltd l:ik huron into which you now en ter from the llraiglits of st marie is the cext in magnitude to lake superior it lies between forty two and forty fix de grees of north latitude aad feventy-nir.i and eighty-live degrees of weft longi tude its fhape is nearly triangular anct its wrcumfereiicc about one thousand on the north fide of it lies an ifland that s remarkaolc for being nea an h:m circd miles in length and n more than eight miles brosd this ifland is known j the name of m[anatulin which figni f^s a place of pints 1 and is coniidercd by the indiani as facred as thofe already m:ntioned in lake superior about the mid ile of the soutji-w&ft fide of this lake h sag^naurn bay the r.ipe that feparate this bayfroin the lake tire about eighteen miles diilant from eacii other near the middle of'heinter rnediite fpace frand two iflands which tfisa:lv tcad to faciliiate th palfaae of from the falls cf st marie i if ifurely proceeded backtomtchihirnackirack and arrived there the bc^if nilig ft n«ve jrner 1 7 6 7 having been fourteen tnon hs en this excenfive tour — travelled near irur trou fand rriles and tifited twelve nations cf indians lying to the weft and north of this place the virter fetting is i'oon a fr er my arrival i was obliged to tarry there till the junt following ibe naviga cnover lake hurrn for large veffels not hcirg oprn or account oi tl c icr till that time meeting hesc viih fcciable company i paffed thefe konfhs tciy r-re?sb3y and without bndir.g the hou , tedicus the hih in lake huron are much the fatie as thofe in lake superior some of the jund on its basks is very ferule and proper for cultivation but in other parts it is fandy and barren the promonto iy that ll-parare this like frc-m lake mi chegan i compo!cd ot h vait plain up wards of one hundred miles long but a rying in its breadth being from ten to fifteen miles broad this track as i have before bfenrcd is divided into al mo:t an rqual portion between the otto waw and chipeway indians at the