Traverse bay extends itself from lake Michigan, at N. lat. 10', and penetrates the country in nearly a south direction about 40 miles, where it contracts into a river of the same name. It is very remarkable that the eastern shore of' lake Michigan, from the mouth of Traverse bay to that of' Calumet river, at its southern extremity, is without hays, and presents the most dan gerous navigation of a similar extent in all the Cana dian sea.
In the S. W. part of lake Erie,.a number of small islands exist, all of which have received distinctive ap pellations. Though these islands are not yet defi nitely assigned to any particular territorial section. yet from their proximity to Michigan, we have deemed it correct to enumerate them in the recapitulation of the natural features belonging to that country. Bass Islands is a group containing three larger and four smaller islands; the three larger Bass islands, lie nearly north and south of each other, and are about two miles long and half a mile wide each. In the southern Bass island, on its northern side, is the fine and commodious harbour of Put-in-bay, six miles west of which, on Sept. 10th, 1813, the British fleet, under Commodore Barclay, was defeated and captured by Commodore Perry. The Hen and Chickens, are four very small islands lying near each other, six or seven miles N. W. of the Bass Islands. The Hen and Chickens are unimportant, ex cept as land marks in navigating lake Erie. The west, middle, and eastern Sisters, are three islands which, though designated as relatively north and south of each other, in fact range in nearly a S. W. and N E. direc tion ; they are all small, neither exceeding 15 or 20 acres in extent, are well wooded, and about ten miles apart, and serve as excellent land marks to navigators on the circumjacent parts of the lake. The eastern. or rather north-eastern Sister, is fifteen miles S. E. from the mouth of Detroit river.
Ceteron, Gros Isle, Bois Blanc, Grand, (large) and Petite, (small) Turkey Islands, Hog, and Peach Islands, all lie in Detroit river. Gros Isle. and the larger Turkey island, contain considerable bodies of good soil, upon which are several farms Bois Blanc deserves notice, only from its position, lying opposite Fort Malden, or rather the village of Amherstberg in Upper Canada, and hav ing the main, and indeed the only ship channel (not more than 300 yards wide) into Detroit river, between it and the Canadian shore ; its possessors must com mand the ingress and egress of the navigation of that important pass. The other islands in Detroit river are undeserving of particular notice. The river St. Clair, at its entrance into the lake of the same name, divides into a number of channels, forming intermediate islands ; but being generally low, flat, and marshy, are of no consequence in a geographical point of view.
Michilimakinac is a small, but very important island, lying in the Strait between lakes Huron and Michigan. The United States have a fort and lactory upon this island. There are a number of other islands in the Strait between lakes Huron and Michigan, and conti guous to :Michigan, in each of those lakes, along their respective shores, but are uninhabited and unimportant.
The rivers of Michigan are numerous, and, compar ed with their length, of course, of large volume. The most remarkable of those which flow from the interior, are, Maumee, Raisin, Huron of Erie, Riviere aux Ecorces, Riviere Rouge, Huron of lake St. Clair, Belle riviere, Pine river, Saguina, Grand, Traverse, Margue rite, Mastigon, Grand Maremec, and St Joseph's rivers. Before, however, noticing the streams flowing from the interior, Detroit, and St. Clair rivers, and the Strait of Michilimakinac demand previous attention. The immense mass of waters pouring into lake Michigan, so much more than counterbalance the diurnal evapo ration from its surface. that a strong and perpetual cur rent passes from Michigan into Huron, through the Straits of Michilimakinac. The body of water in lake Huron, augmented by the overwh elming discharge from lakes Superior and Michigan, together with its own particular smaller confluents. gradually contract into St. Clair river, passes Fort Gra tiot, by a strong rapid, which gradually subsides in:o a placid strea,m, flowing nearly south, about three-fourths of a nine wide, and twenty-six miles in length. It is a singular feature in the topography of the country under review, that St. Clair river assumes, at its point of discharge, all the peculiar features of the Deltas, of the Nile and Mississippi rivers. Detroit river commences at the S. NV. angle of lake St. Clair, and running six miles and a half nearly in a west direction, passes the city of Detroit, by a channel of three-fourths of a mile wide. Opposite the city of Detroit, the river is narrower than it is in any other part of its course. Below the city, the river winds three and a half miles S. NV. to the mouth of the Riviet e Rouge (Red River,) thence turn ing to the south, gradually widens, and in a distance of eighteen miles from the mouth of Rivicre Rouge, to that of Huron of Erie, expands to five miles in breadth at its junction with lake Erie. Vessels drawing seven feet water, pass without difficulty from lake Erie, through the intermediate straits and lakes, into Huron and Michigan, and towards lake Superior as far as the falls of St. Mary.