Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/194

 it placed me in a very interesting situation. It was late in the afternoon when I reached the Lake; and it was my intention to travel upon it until the evening, and then pass into the woods. Soon after leaving the river, however, I found the banks of the Lake very high and steep. I pushed on. This tremendous ridge of perpendicular rock proved to be several miles in length. I was not aware, that it was the celebrated scene of storms, shipwrecks, and savage offerings. Night approached. The prospects around me were sublime. I was upon a glare of ice. Upon one side was a congealed ocean, apparently unlimited, and on the other a gloomy bank fifty feet in height, entirely perpendicular, and pending from which were huge icicles.—I speak within bounds: they were twenty feet in length, and as large as a hogshead. The severity of the weather had been unparalleled. It had rained,—it had frozen. The night was dark. To ascend the banks was impossible:—they seemed to be the everlasting battlements of nature! The weather was still moderating; the ice of the Lake cracking in every direction, and producing a noise like distant thunder. The solitude of my situation was profound. I was in the midst of a world, and it appeared to have been made but for one man. I walked with caution, hoping yet to meet a ravine in the banks. At length I heard, at a little distance, a sullen stream pouring its scanty waters into the hollow Lake. I paused,—was bewildered,—was lost. The stars presented a gloomy aspect, and shed an ineffectual light. My situation was truly enviable!—There is a charm in desolation; and in the season of danger, the human {90} soul triumphs in the conviction of its own indestructibility.

After being apprised of the existence of the stream, I, with much caution, moved upon my hands and knees