31st.  Soon after quitting our camp this morning, a heavy wind arose.  It was partly fair, so as to permit our hoisting sail for a few hours, but then shifted ahead, and drove us ashore.  We landed on a small island called Vermilion, off the south cape of Sturgeon Bay.  Here we remained all the remainder of the day and night.  While there detained I read “China, its Arts, Manufactures, &c.,” a work translated from the French, and giving a lively, and apparently correct account of that singular people.

About two o’clock, P.M., we cut some of the water and musk-melons presented by Dr. Wharton, and found them delicious.  About 6 o’clock, P.M., my cook informed me that he had prepared a supper, agreeably to my directions, and we found his skill in this way by no means despicable.  Such are the trifles which must fill up my journal, for did I only write what was fit for grave divines, or the scrutinizing eye of philosophy to read, I fear I should have but a few meagre sheets to present you on my return, and perhaps not a single syllable witty or wise.

Sept. 1st.  The wind abated during the night, and we were early on the waters, and went on until eleven o’clock, when we landed for breakfast.  At twelve o’clock we went forward again, with a fair wind.  I read another volume of “China.”  “The Chinese ladies,” says the author, “live very retired, wholly engaged in their household affairs, and how to please their husbands.  They are not, however, confined quite so closely as is commonly supposed.  The females visit entirely amongst each other.  There is no society or circles in China to which the women are admitted.  Marriages are a mere matter of convenience, or, to speak with greater propriety, a kind of bargain settled between the parents and relatives.”

We came on very well, and encamped at the Little Detroit, or strait, so called, in the Grand Traverse.  This traverse separates Green Bay from Lake Michigan.  It is computed to be twenty miles over.  A cluster of islands enables canoes to pass.  There are some hieroglyphics on the rocks.

2d.  We embarked at three o’clock, A.M., and went on very well, until ten, when we stopped on one of the islands for breakfast, having nearly completed the traverse.  In the meantime the wind arose in our favor, and we went on along the north shore of Lake Michigan gayly.  We passed the mouth of the Manistee River, which interlocks with the Tacquimenon of Lake Superior, where some of our St. Mary’s Chippewas make their gardens.  An aft wind and light spirits are inseparable, whether a man be in a frigate or a canoe.  There is something in the air exhilarating.  I have been passing in retrospect, the various journeys I have made, but during none has my anxieties to return been so great as this.  What a wonderful destiny it is that makes one man a traveler and another a poet, a mathematician, &c.  We appear to be guided by some innate principle which