LAKE SUPERIOR. 13 



The Apostle Islands. 



The following from " Legends of the Great Lakes," will no 

 doubt interest the sportsman as well as the tourist. The author, 

 says: "Of all the Lake Superior country perhaps none can 

 interest the traveler more than these beautiful ' Summer Isles 

 of a Northern Sea.' It is a land of strange delights, a veritable 

 bower of flowers and green trees, made lovelier by the romantic 

 associations of past ages. 



"One may fancy that in those early days of history, when the 

 ever-sacrificing Jesuit Fathers pierced the unknown wilderness 

 in their zeal and love of humanity, they must here have found a 

 rest, a place of sweet repose. 



" If all the year were summer it would not be hard to believe that 

 'The Apostles' were the 'inspired islands of the blessed,' of the 

 Greek poets, so verdant, sunny and flowery they are. And then 

 there is the quaint old village of La Pointe, with its ancient relics 

 and legendary tales, slumbering upon the southern shore of Made- 

 line Island famed above all others in the traditions of the past. 



" Almost upon the very beach, listlessly dreaming in the sunshine, 

 rests quietly the antique little village, — a single winding street with 

 houses, of another age, strewn along for half a mile, like peas sown 

 on uneven ground, but not so thick. 



'* IVIany of the houses stand so near the shore that little children 

 can stand in the doors and throw pebbles into the lake. Back from 

 the sandy beach, leading into shady dells and over wooded knolls 

 are the loveliest of winding paths where one can walk for miles 

 with occasional glimpses of blue, sparkling waters and a continuous 

 bower of greenery everywhere. 



" The inhabitants are mostly fishermen who spread their nets in 

 many waters during the summer season, and return to winter at 

 La Pointe. The houses are nearly all built of logs, some clapboarded 

 and all plastered with the nat.ve clay abounding here; instead of 

 lath, twigs interlaced in diamond shape are used. 



"La Pointe to-day is but the remembrance of what it once was. 

 In the days of the American Fur Company and John Jacob Astor, 

 some three thousand people made this their homes. Now scarcely 

 one hundred inhabitants can be counted. Many curious relics of 

 the olden time are still to be seen. The Jesuit Fathers — Allouez and 



