angerous and
fatiguing one of hunting the gray fox by moonlight. Although we have
never participated in an Opossum hunt, yet we have observed that it
afforded much amusement to the sable group that in the majority of
instances make up the hunting party, and we have on two or three
occasions been the silent and gratified observers of the preparations
that were going on, the anticipations indulged in, and the excitement
apparent around us.

[Footnote 66: A clergyman of the Lutheran church, for many years a
citizen of Charleston, South Carolina, out originally from New York;
eminent for his attainments and writings in natural history and
science.]

* * * * *

=_J. A. Lapham.[67]_=

From "Wisconsin, its Geography," &c.

=_263._= THE SMALLER LAKES.

BESIDES these immense lakes, Wisconsin abounds in those of smaller size,
scattered profusely over her whole surface. They are from one to twenty
or thirty miles in extent. Many of them are the most beautiful that
can be imagined--the water deep, and of crystal purity and clearness,
surrounded by sloping hills and promontories, covered with scattered
groves and clumps of trees. Some are of a more picturesque kind, being
more rugged in their appearance, with steep, rocky bluffs, crowned
with cedar, hemlock, spruce, and other evergreen trees of a similar
character. Perhaps a small rocky island will vary the scene, covered
with a conical mass of vegetation, the low shrubs and bushes being
arranged around the margin, and the tall trees in the centre. These
lakes usually abound in fish of various kinds, affording food for the
pioneer settler; and among the pebbles on their shores may occasionally
be found fine specimens of agate, carnelian, and other precious stones.
In the bays, where the water is shallow, and but little affected by the
winds, the wild rice grows in abundance, affording subsistence for the
Indian, and attracting innumerable water-birds to these lakes.

[Footnote 67: The age of this meritorious and industrious writer we have
not been able to learn. The second edition of his book on Wisconsin
appeared in 1846.]

* * * * *

=_264._= ANCIENT EARTHWORKS.

There is a class of ancient earthworks in Wisconsin, not before found
in any other country.... Some have a resemblance to the buffalo, the
eagle, or crane, or to the turtle or lizard. One, representing the human
form, near the Blue Mounds, is, a