Page 94 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

90 WISCONSIX IIISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
North iWadiso?z. Close upon this again was the city of East
Madison. Then there was the city of West Madison, the city
of South 31adison, and, finally, the City of the Pirs t Lake. Of
each of these I had a beautiful engraved plan, with all it6
gquares, streets, institutions and temples."
In the vicinity of Madison he found some very interesting
mounds and other interesting Indian monuments, which he
describes, and continues:
" We hastened on, as the day was drawing to a close, and we
had yet some distance to go to Madison City. For some time I
had kept a good look-out for some of the enterprising farmers,
whomust have come from great distances to this fertile country,
and was rather surprised that we should hitherto have met no one.
We had not passed a single farm, and concluded that, being an
Indian country, the settlers had clustered round the great city
we were bound to, and had established themselves near that lake
where the best fish abounded. Frcsh fish! prodigious varieties!
cat-fish, pike, pickerel, salmon, trout, buffalo, perch! What an-
ticipations for men who had for so many days been bolting
pieces of tough fat bacon, cured 1,000 miles off. At length we
came to a belt of open trees, and, passing through it, we reached
the flat, marshy shores of the largest of the four lakes; we
could see almost entircly around it, and much did we look; but,
alas! no vestige of human dwelling was in sight.
" This considerably changed the current of our thoughts, and
materially impaircd the beauty of the prospect. Not being
disposed to express all we felt, we reluctantly took to the woods
again, along the margin of the lake, in the hope to stumblc upon
some one or other. Night was gradually drawing her veil over
every thing, and it became rather doubtful whether we should not
have-in the language of backwoodsmen-to camp out. Keep-
ing, therefore, all my visions of fried fish in the background for
a while, I felt for my box of matc!aes, and, finding it safe, turned
my attention-as old Indian travelers always do-to the next
best thing, o rousing fire to lie down by. Black clouds wero
forming in the horizon; we had been drenched thoroughly tho