The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-16 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

A Summer in the Wilderness, emsrneing a ('anae ruyage
upthe Mississippi and around Lake Superior. By Charles

This volume comes from the spawn of American
literature, and it is one of its worst specimens. It pro-
fares to be the record of a voyage up the Mississippi,
from St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, to the Red
Cedar Lake, in which that great river takes its rise;
and thence by way of Spirit Lake, across the northern
portion of Wisconsin ter ritory,through Lake Superior
and the state of Michigan homewards—describing the
present aspect of the country, and the ever-varying
forms and conditions of American and Indian life
along the route. Had this design been worthily fulfilled,
it would have madcap exceedingly useful and interest-
ing book; but our author does not appear to have pos-
sessed either the preliminary information necessary to
make him comprehend the value of what he saw, or
the ability to reproduce his experience in any satis-
factory manner. His work is, moreover, disfigured
by the most puerile conceits, tawny sentiments, and
other evidence of bad taste. Still it has a sort of in-
terest. It is the latest work on the subject, and that
accident lends it an importance which could in no
other way belong to it.
The wonderfully rapid growth of towns and cities
in the United States is quite unparalleled in Europe.
Birkenhead, in Cheshire, is perhaps the nearest ap-
proach to it : but even that marvel is far surpassed
by rivals on the western frontiers of Anglo-America.
Half a score of years often suffice to change the chit•
meter of a frontier entirely,—to transform a wilder-
ness into a populous and thriving district. Flourish-
ing communities rise up with the suddenness of
I magic. Where a comparatively few months ago no
sound invaded the deep silence of the forest, the
prairie, or the lake, nor the ripple of the waters, the
low of the baffalo, or the occasional crack of the
Indian's rifle—may now be beard the snort and
the scream of the steam-boat and the railway-engine,
the busy scene of sip:cultural and commer-
cial activity may be witnessed, and the full
swell and tide of civilised life encountered.
So quickly are these transformations effected,
that the most faithful ,maps and gazetteers are
soon outgrown and obsolete. Every tourist, there-
fore, through the frontier—where the city and the
desert are in contact with each other, and civilised life
is in mortal conflict with savageness—has new marvels
to tell of—new aspects of the constantly varying
phenomena to describe. Although Mr. Leaman has
not made the best of his materials, he could cot help
in some measure indicating some of the progressive
features of the country through which he passed.
St. Louis, his point of departure, was not many years
ago a part of the desert. It has now 40,000 inhabit-
ants. Its situation, mar the month of the Missouri,
makes it the starting point of all adventurers and
settlers for the far-west. It is crowded with mer-
chants ; and since the Anglo-Saxons have taken the
lead of the knot of old French residents, it has become
the theatre of unsleeping enterprise. The first
steamer landed iu 1817 there are now three
hundred belonging to the city alone. The
wilderness recedes on every side: but the Indians
visit the city in considerable numbers for - 'ses of
trade, and their - in the -'