THE SOUTHERN SHORES OE LAKE SUPERIOR. 3-19 



visited by the Indians in the passage from the western regions going 

 eastward down the lake towards the Sault Ste. Marie. Tracing their 

 picturesque details in this direction, the voyager on sailing inside 

 Grand Island, towards the shore, gradually approaches a range of 

 stratified sand-stone cliffs, handed in layers of white, yellow, red, 

 and deep-brown strata, and streaked with strongly-marked veins of 

 perpendicular coloring, occasioned apparently by the water oozing 

 through the seams impregnated with metallic oxides, or other color- 

 ing matter, and distributing it over the broad bands of white sand- 

 stone which constitute the main mass of the rock, and lie between 

 the thin layers of colored rock or shale. In describing one magnifi- 

 cent segmental curve of the cliffs, to which, from its lofty and regular 

 proportions, Messrs. Poster and Whitney have given the name of 

 •'The Amphitheatre," they remark: "It is in this portion of the 

 series that the phenomena of colors are most beautifully and conspi- 

 cuously displayed. These do not by any means cover the whole 

 surface of the cliff, even when they are most conspicuously displayed, 

 but are confined to certain portions of the cliffs in the vicinity of the 

 Amphitheatre ; the great mass of the surface presenting the natural, 

 light-yellow, or raw sienna color of the rock. The colors are also 

 limited in their vertical range, rarely extending more than thirty or 

 forty feet above the water, or a quarter, or a third of the vertical 

 height of the cliff. The prevailing tints consist of deep-brown, yel- 

 low and grey ; burnt sienna and French grey predominating. There 

 are also bright blues and greens, though less frequent. All of the 

 ^ints are fresh, brilliant and distinct, and harmonize admirably with 

 one another, which, taken in connection with the grandeur of the 

 arched and caverned surfaces on which they are laid, and the deep 

 and pure green of the water which heaves and swells at the base, and 

 the rich foliage which waves above, produce an effect truly wonder- 

 ful." This aspect accordingly, predominating over the other striking 

 features of these rocks, suggested their English name, while the 

 voyageurs of French descent, conferred on them a designation derived 

 rather from their most characteristic forms. Many portions of the 

 cliffs are indented by wedge-shaped recesses, which leave the inter- 

 vening rock projecting like the wasted round towers or bastions of 

 an ancient castle, while the loose soil and shale at top, yielding more 

 freely to the action of the atmosphere, and of moisture and frost, 

 have most frequently assumed the form of a conical roofing, greatly 

 adding to the artificial look of the whole. In one group, especially, 

 a little to the west of the magnificent natural arch styled " Le Grand 



