dly encloses me a letter to Colonel
Aspinwall of London, commending to him my contemplated publication on
the oral legends of the North American Indians. "I regret to say," he
adds, "that the last time he wrote to me, he was in great uneasiness,
apprehending the loss of one of his daughters, who appeared to be in a
rapid decline."

_25th_. Mrs. Jameson, on returning from her trip to the lakes, writes
for my opinion on the causes of the phenomenon of the rise in the waters
of the lakes. Alluding to this subject, the Superintendent of the works
in the Ohio says: "The water of Lake Erie, which has been rising for
many years, and has attained a height unequaled in the memory of man,
seems to have attained its maximum, and to have commenced its reflux.
Since the first day of June last, as I have ascertained by means of
graduated rods at different points along the coast of Lake Erie, the
water has fallen perpendicularly nineteen inches, and is still falling.
The meteorological character of the present season, as compared with
that of several previous seasons, clearly shows the cause of the rise
and fall of the lakes not to be periodical, as has heretofore been
asserted, but entirely accidental. For several years the summers have
been cloudy and cold, with a prevalence of easterly winds and rainy
weather. The last summer has been excessively warm for the whole season,
and of exceeding drought. When it is remembered that the amount of water
evaporated over the surface of these vast bodies of water, during a
period of warm sunny weather, greatly exceeds that which passes the
outlet of one of these lakes (Niagara River, for example), the cause of
the phenomenon is apparent."--See _Mr. Barrett's inquiries, ante_.

_26th_. The _New York Star_ publishes a notice of _Delafield's
Antiquities_. This handsomely printed and illustrated work contains four
things that are new to the antiquarian inquirer: 1. A theory by the
author, by which he conceives the Indian race to be descended from the
ancient Cuthites, who are Hamitic. This is wrong. 2. A curious and
valuable pictographic map of the migration of the Aztecs, not heretofore
printed. This is an acquisition. 3. A disquisition of Dr. Lakey, of
Cincinnati, on the superiority of the northern to the southern race of
red men. This seems true. 4. A preface, by Bishop McIlvaine, showing the
importance in all inquiries of the kind, of keeping the record of the
Bible strictly in view. This is