Indescribable was our amazement when we viewed once more the waters of
_Lake Erie_, whose raging billows had betrayed to us, only a few days ago,
the unruly nature of a boisterous inland-sea.
Now, as we were gliding on its surface, the lake presented an appearance
quite novel to us; being almost motionless, a true emblem of tranquillity
and peacefulness. Only now and then a gentle zephyr rippled its level
which, reflected in the sunbeams, appeared like an undulating mass of
silver. The cloudless heavens, clad in their brightest hue of azure blue,
and illumined by the golden sun, painted a great variety of fine images of
light and shade on the limpid waters beneath. The sky seemed to reflect
the water and the water the sky, both gleaming in the sunshine.
On our right, the lake made the impression of stretching into endless,
unlimited space; on our left, however, we could distinguish romantic
hills, decorated by massive groves, with crossing and intersecting
promontories, and fair valleys tenanted by numerous flocks and herds, that
seemed to wander unrestrained through the rich pastures. The luxuriant
landscape was intercepted here and there by undulating slopes, covered
with sand, whose light color contrasted with the verdure of vales and
hillocks.
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