336 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



this time. I do not think I shall be going too far if I say 

 that six-sevenths of the north line of the lake was known 

 only to trappers and voyageurs, and, of course, Indians. 

 Many spots have no record of ever having been visited by 

 a white man, and others, well known to the voyageurs and 

 other children of the wilds, have never had their names 

 jotted on a map. 



Commencing at the town of Superior, at the mouth 

 of the St. Louis, formerly, I believe, called Duluth, after 

 a voyageur who established himself here (I am writing 

 this from remembrance all the guide I have), the coast- 

 line is of the boldest character to be found on the lake. 

 I may add that my acquaintance with this part is not 

 complete. I know but certain spots, as I made a some- 

 what hurried canoe voyage along this part. 



The Great Palisade is the first striking object. It is 

 a projecting headland almost detached from the shore, 

 and was, I should think, when the lake was fuller, a 

 mighty rock standing out of the water, completely isolated 

 from the shore. This is the appearance it has viewed 

 from a canoe; but I had not the opportunity to land 

 here. It is nine hundred or a thousand feet high, and 

 crowned with trees ; but the rock is columnar, and of a 

 bright red colour, encrusted with a kind of crystal which 

 causes it to sparkle in the bright sunlight in a way that 

 is sometimes painfully dazzling to the eye. I was at 

 first, on account of its remarkable formation, inclined to 

 think it a kind of basalt ; as a matter of fact I was not 

 geologist enough to satisfactorily fix the actual formation, 

 but I have heard it stated to be a kind of porphyritic 

 greenstone. The same formation extends for a great 

 distance; in fact, with intervals, where other rocks in- 

 trude, it may possibly extend right round the lake. 



Continuing a north-eastward course, wonder follows 

 on wonder and beauty crowds on beauty so fast that the 

 eye becomes confused and fails to note the multitude of 

 objects that deserve attention. Even at this day thirty 



