CHAPTER XXVII 



THE NORTH SHORE OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



I HAVE already said something of the northern part of 

 Lake Superior. To make my account of the lake as 

 complete as possible I add some more particulars gathered 

 on different occasions, previously, or subsequent, to my 

 visit to Marquette. 



The lake is full of islands, the four largest of which 

 are Royal, Maurepas, Pontchartrain, and Pheltpaux. All, 

 large and small, appear to be very beautiful spots of earth, 

 but as I have only landed on a few of the smallest I can- 

 not give a description of them. Many of them present a 

 striking contrast to the rocky shores, having low beaches 

 with grass as green as that of English meadows, a sight 

 not to be seen every day in the northern part of the 

 continent, where the plains are often covered with a 

 coarse, reedy grass, of a brown or dingy colour. Isle 

 Royal and Pheltpaux, which I have coasted, appear to be 

 quite thirty miles long and fifteen broad. I saw several 

 Indian encampments on the shores, but otherwise they 

 appear to be uninhabited. There was, however, a deserted 

 lighthouse on Isle Royal ; and to my intense surprise I 

 afterwards learned that this island, which is close to the 

 British side of the lake, is claimed by the United States, 

 and forms part of Michigan ! 



The north shore of Superior is considered by 

 Americans to commence at the St. Louis River, which 

 enters the lake at its extreme western corner. It is not 

 nearly so well known as the south coast, though not a 

 fourth of the latter had been even cursorily explored at 



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