SOUTHERN SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR 321 



changes of the weather. I have seen the weather appa- 

 rently most promising only half-an-hour before a fierce 

 squall rushed over the surface of the lake, and on several 

 occasions we have had to literally race the wind to the 

 nearest landing-place. Two or three times we have only 

 escaped by the skin of our teeth. With a considerable 

 experience of the open sea, I am of opinion that it is far 

 less dangerous to small craft in bad weather than the 

 waters of these lakes. During storms the waves seemed 

 to me to be at least as high as those of the ocean, while 

 they are much shorter, or more choppy. A seaman will 

 understand, therefore, why they are so dangerous to 

 small craft. On a long, running swell, a boat may do 

 very well, however deep the trough of the sea, but it is a 

 different matter with a short choppy sea, especially as in 

 these lakes, where there is either no defined current, or 

 a meeting of aberrant currents, particularly near the 

 shore, where the danger is greatest. There is also very 

 deep water, right inshore in many places, the rocks 

 rising abruptly from the surface. The average depth is 

 variously stated, but it is nowhere as great as might 

 be thought, considering the extent of the lake. My 

 measurements did not always agree with the chart of 

 the lakes which I used, although as a rule it seemed to 

 be very correct. I appeared to find some holes, or 

 narrow gullies, at the bottom of Superior, and other 

 lakes. The average depth of Superior is about eight 

 hundred feet, and the water is generally so beautifully 

 clear that objects can be seen lying on the bottom where 

 the depth is two or three hundred feet. This is not the 

 case where streams or falls bring mud or sediment into 

 it, though, as a rule, the pollution extends to but a very 

 short distance from the shore. 



Near Munesing, according to my measurements, some 

 of the cliffs exceed, by a few feet, seventy yards hi height, 

 rising so straight from the water that they seemed to be 

 absolutely verticle, and the measurement was taken by 



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