﻿56 SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 



Superior, the forest is composed of tlie white 

 spruce, balsam fir, Weymouth pine, American larch, 

 and canoe birch, with, near the edge of the lake 

 and on the banks of streams, that pleasant inter- 

 mixture of mountain maple and dogwood* which 

 imparts such a varied and rich gradation of orange 

 and red tints to the autumnal landscape. Other 

 trees exist, but not in sufficient numbers to give 

 a character to the scenery. Oaks are scarce, and 

 beech disaj)pears to the south of the lake. The 

 American yew, which does not rise into a tree like 

 its European namesake, is the common underwood 

 of the more fertile spots, where it grows under the 

 shade to the height of three or four feet, in slender 

 bush-like twigs. On the low sandstone islands deci- 

 duous trees, such as the poplars and maples, abound, 

 with the nine-bark spiraea, cockspur thorns, wil- 

 lows, plums, cherries, and mountain-ash. f When 

 we entered the lake on the 4th of May, large accu- 

 mulations of drift snow on the beaches showed 

 the lateness of the season ; none of the deciduous 

 trees had as yet budded ; and the precocious catkins 

 of a silvery willow {Salix Candida j^ with the humble 



* Abies alba, Abies balsamea, Pinus strobus, Larix ameri- 

 cana, Betula papyracea, Acer montanum, and Cornus alba. 



■j" Popuhis tremuloides et bahamifera ; Acer ; Spirea opuli- 

 folia ; CrcBtegus cj-ics-galli, punctata, glandulosa, et coccitiea ; 

 Primus americana ; Cerasus pumila, nigra, pennsylvanica, 

 virginiana, et serotina ; Pyrus americana. 



