Few or none, even on the sea coast, exceed it for spaciousness and beauty. The exteat of the bay, from north to south, is about six or seven miles, and from east to west, from two to four miles. The grounds around the bay rise considerably high, and the entrance is not above half a mile over. So completely is it protected from the wind, that when the lake is agitated with a storm, the bay may be passed safely in a canoe. Vessels, may anchor near the town in twenty-five fathom water, on a sandy bottom, and in many places a vessel of fifty tons might lay afloat near enough the shore to land on a plank. In this bay there are several islands,* covered with timber, which with the head lands stretching into the bay afford picturesque views from the town, scarcely to be equalled. The town stands on a rising ground, on the west point of the bay, having the lake on the north, to appearance boundless as the ocean, and the bay to the east, romantically intersected with islands, and parts of the main land stretching into it. The first view of this place, after passing through a timbered country twenty-eight miles, strikes the eye of the beholder as one of the most magnificent landscapes human fancy can picture, and the beauty of the scene is not unfrequently heightened by the appearance of large vessels navigating the lake. At the sight of these immense bodies of water, the mind of a reflecting man must be struck with admiration. With only the interception of the portage of nine miles at Niagara Falls they may be navigated to the westward at least two thousand miles ; and at one place the portage betw^een Lake Michigan and the navigable waters of the Illinois, does not exceed half a mile.