ON THE SOUTH SHORE OF LAKE SUPERIOR. 437 
The Apostle Islands——When the waters of Lake Superior assumed their present 
level, these islands were doubtless a part of the promontory, which I have described 
as occupying the space between Chegwomigon Bay and the Brulé River. They 
are composed of drift-hills and red clay, resting on sandstone, which is occasionally 
visible. In the lapse of ages, the winds, waves, and currents of the Lake cut away 
channels in these soft materials, and finally separated the lowest parts of the pro- 
montory into islands and island-rocks, now twenty-three in number, which are true 
outliers of the drift and sandstone. A new islet has been separated from the north- 
eastern point of Pug-a-tau-bau-minnis, or “ Fishing-Line Island,” since the surveys 
of Captain Bayfield, in 1824, ’25, and ’26. 
I found, in passing among the islands, that no map in my possession gave even a 
good general idea of their size, form, and position. Afterwards, I had the good 
fortune to examine a copy of Bayfield’s map, in the hands of Mr. Armatinger, a 
Canadian gentleman, which represents them truly, and from which I have taken 
the islands and adjacent coast. 
I have since seen Farmer’s Map of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and find 
the islands correctly copied from Bayfield. At a distance they appear like main 
land, with deep bays and points, gradually becoming more elevated to the westward. 
“Tle au Chéne,” or Oak Island, which is next the Detour, is a pile of detached 
drift, two hundred and fifty and three hundred feet high, and is the highest of the 
group. Madeline, or “ Wau-ga-ba-me” Island, is the largest, being thirteen miles 
long, from northeast to southwest, and has an average of three miles in breadth. 
“* Muk-quaw,” or Bear Island, and Eshquagendeg, or Outer Islands, are about equal 
in size, being six miles long and two and a half wide. 
They embrace, in all, an area of about four hundred square miles, of which one- 
half is water. The soil is in some places good, but the major part of it would be 
difficult to clear and to cultivate. The causes to which I referred as giving rise to 
thickets of evergreens along the coast of the Lake, operate here on all sides, and 
have covered almost the whole surface with cedar, birch, aspen, hemlock, and pine. 
There are, however, patches of sugar-tree land, and natural meadows. On six of 
them I did not discover the base rock, and conclude that they are composed of 
clay and drift to the water’s edge. 
On all the others, the sand-rock is visible in places on the coast, which I have 
denoted on the map, and which make a wild, bold, and dangerous shore. The rock 
is often worn into grottoes, detached pillars and blocks, caverns, arches, and niches, 
through which the waves resound on the slightest agitation of the water. 
It is upon the northerly and easterly shores that the rocks show themselves most 
frequently ; in no instances that I have seen, more than forty-five feet above the 
water. The southerly and westerly sides show red clay and drift, occupying much 
more than half the coast. 
The waters around the islands afford excellent white fish, trout, and siscowet, which 
do not appear to diminish after many years of extensive fishing, for the Lower Lake 
markets. For trout and siscowet, which are caught with a line in deep water, the 
best ground of the neighbourhood is off Bark Point, or “Point Ecorsé” of the French. 
The estimate of this season was one thousand barrels for the La Pointe fishermen. 
