Sometimes
there is a smoke on the shore. Sometimes an Indian trader returns with
the avails of his winter's traffic. A gathering storm or threatening
wind arises. All at once the _voyageurs_ burst out into one of their
simple and melodious boat-songs, and the gazing at vastness is relieved
and sympathy at once awakened in gayety. Such are the scenes that attend
the navigation of this mighty but solitary body of water. That nature
has created such a scene of magnificence merely to look at, is contrary
to her usual economy. The sources of a busy future commerce lie
concealed, and but half concealed, in its rocks. Its depths abound in
fish, which will be eagerly sought, and even its forests are not without
timber to swell the objects of a future commerce. If the plough is
destined to add but little to its wealth, it must be recollected that
the labors of the plough are most valuable where the area suitable for
its dominion is the smallest. But even the prairies of the West are
destined to waft their superabundance here.
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