the family, for the Indians
are as proud of their descent (and with good reason) as we, in Europe,
are of ours. The Randolph family in Virginia still boast of their
descent from Pocahontas, the heroine of one of the most remarkable
romances in real life which was ever heard of.

The whole of this region appears to be incapable of cultivation, and
must remain in its present state, perhaps, for centuries to come. The
chief produce is from the lakes; trout and white fish are caught in
large quantities, salted down, and sent to the west and south. At
Mackinaw alone they cure about two thousand barrels, which sell for ten
dollars the barrel; at the Sault, about the same quantity; and on Lake
Superior, at the station of the American Fur Company, they have
commenced the fishing, to lessen the expenses of the establishment, and
they now salt down about four thousand barrels; but this traffic is
still in its infancy, and will become more profitable as the west
becomes more populous. Be it here observed that, although the Canadians
have the same rights and the same capabilities of fishing, I do not
believe that one barrel is cured on the Canadian side. As the American
fish is prohibited in England, it might really become an article of
exportation from the Canadas to a considerable amount.

There is another source of profit, which is the collecting of the maple
sugar; and this staple, if I may use the term, is rapidly increasing.
At an average, the full grown maple-tree will yield about five pounds of
sugar each tapping, and, if carefully treated, will last forty years.
All the State of Michigan is supplied from this quarter with this sugar,
which is good in quality, and refines well. At Mackinaw they receive
about three hundred thousand pounds every year. It may be collected in
any quantity from their vast wildernesses of forests, and although the
notion may appear strange, it is not impossible that one day the
Northern sugar may supersede that of the Tropics. The island of St
Joseph, which I have mentioned, is covered with large maple trees, and
they make a great quantity upon that spot alone.

I was amused by a reply given me by an American in office here. I asked
how much his office was worth, and his answer was six hundred dollars,
besides _stealings_. This was, at all events, frank and honest; in
England the word would have been softened down to perquisites. I
afterwards found that it was a common expression in