114 AREA AND DRAINAGE BASIN OF LAKE SUPERIOR 



had become in 1894 a drove of a score or nio.re and were quite 

 taine. They are said to be sometimes found standing and look- 

 ing with longing eyes toward the north shore, as if anxious to 

 return to their fellows, with the expanse of the continent before 

 them. The very deep soundings which can be made on all sides 

 of Isle Royal and almost off its banks and the form and surface 

 of the island show that it is an isolated and nearly submerged 

 mountain ridge, rising from 1,000 to 1,500 feet from the l)ottom 

 of the lake. It is the only island of this sort in the Great Lakes, 

 and for its parallel we must look to the isolated and volcanic 

 islands of the great oceans. 



The island next in size is St Ignace, or, with Anglo-Saxon love 

 of brevit}^ simply Ignace. It is one of the series of islands which 

 close the three great bays (Thunder, Black, and Nipigon) of the 

 extreme north of the lake, and with the projecting ends of the 

 two peninsulas between these bays they form a remarkable series 

 of escarpments extending from Pigeon river on the west nearly 

 to Slate islands on the east, all belonging to Ontario. Beginning 

 at the Avest, the first great island, and the " stopper " to Thunder 

 bay, is Pie island, so named from its resemblance to a British 

 pie — a structure which has a much greater altitude than its 

 American namesake. This island has an area of 22 square miles, 

 and consists of two tabled hills or mountains separated by a large 

 space so low as to make the tables appear to be separate islands. 

 The western or smaller table is 850 feet above sea-level. Its es- 

 carpments are very abrupt on all sides, and the top is nearly 

 inaccessible. On it, however, is a large pond or small lake with- 

 out outlet, but stocked with brook-trout. The other table, the 

 " pie " proper, is much larger, but only 700 feet high and rela- 

 tively accessible. Next, going eastward, is Thunder cape, the 

 extreme point of the peninsula between Thunder bay and Black 

 hay, precipitous and rising directly from the lake to an elevation 

 of 1,250 feet from its surface. It is the highest point immediately 

 on Lake Superior, and is of tabular form. The precipitous sides 

 are carved into curious forms, especially on the west side, and 

 are bare of trees. The assumed daily thunder about this point 

 in summer is the alleged origin of the name of the cape as well 

 as of the bay over which it stands sentinel. The " stopper " for 

 Black bay is Edward island (6 square miles), and Nipigon bay 

 is closed by St Ignace, Simpson (or Sampson), and Copper islands 

 in their order from west to east. These islands are very similar 

 in general characteristics, and a description of St Ignace will 



