326 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



The cave has just the same rough, broken appear- 

 ance which is remarked at Le Portail. Rugged rocks 

 and huge stones project from the sides and hang from 

 the roof; and to two of these masses are given the 

 names of the Altar and the Pulpit. The gulls breed 

 in this cave, and the bottom was covered with their 

 droppings ; but the Indians say that the place is begin- 

 ning to be so frequently visited by holiday-makers from 

 Marquette, Munesing, and other places, that the birds 

 are forsaking it. Most of them, however, breed before 

 boats can venture to navigate the lake. With the ex- 

 ception of gulls, I saw no birds about here. 



There are a few smaller caves near the Chapel, and 

 some of the rocks look like the balustrades of a terrace, 

 surmounted by a forest growth of tall trees. There is a 

 rapid near the Chapel, coming over the rocks in a series 

 of short falls, beautifully overhung and half-hid with 

 foliage. The many cascades cannot be enumerated. 

 Only one or two of them can be dignified with the term, 

 falls. As I have said, there are no rivers of size empty- 

 ing into the lake on the south side ; and the rivulets and 

 brooks, which are shallow, all rush over the cliffs in 

 babbling cascades, which, though sometimes falling more 

 than a hundred feet, are mere ribbons of water. Superior 

 is completely surrounded with a wall of cliffs and moun- 

 tains ; and is, I am convinced, now some two hundred 

 feet shallower than it was a few thousand years ago. 

 For I am convinced that at no great distance of time the 

 surface of the water was level with the present tops of 

 the cliffs. My opinion also is that the waters of all the 

 Great Lakes are slowly, but most surely, decreasing in 

 depth, though, as there is deep water close inshore, there 

 is but small perceptible contraction of area as yet. 



The Indians look at Chapel Cave with superstitious 

 fear. It is, they say, the residence of an evil manitou, or 

 spirit, and my paddle-men would .not enter it with me. 

 They crossed themselves and told their beads while I was 



