THE FRONT OF TILE PKOOESSION OF LIFE. 87 



ed as among the most striking and beautiful features of the 

 scenery of the Northwest, and are well worthy of the at- 

 tention of the artist, of the lover of the grand and beauti- 

 ful, and of the observer of geological phenomena."* 



The first display of architectural mimicry witnessed in 

 coasting eastward is a salient mass of sandstone known as 

 the "Miner's Castle," presenting the turreted elevation and 

 arched and massive doorway of some ancient feudal seat. 

 The height of the doorway is about seventy feet, while the 

 tops of the turrets are one hundred and forty feet above 

 the lake (Fig. 32). 



About five miles farther eastward the cliffs attain an el- 

 evation of about one hundred and seventy-three feet, pre- 

 senting a series of sinuosities or scollops hewn out by the 

 action of the waves. One of the grandest and most regu- 

 lar of these was named " The Amphitheatre" by Foster and 

 Whitney. Still farther eastward this scolloped contour 

 graduates into extravagant carvings, which have wrought 

 the mural wall into wierd Titanic mimicry of architectural 

 forms. Vast tablets from the upper courses of the wall, 

 sapped by the agency of eroding waves, have tumbled 

 down and strewn the beach in places with fragments which 

 lead the traveler to believe he is clambering among the 

 ruins of gigantic temples shattered by an earthquake shud- 

 der. A group of these fallen fragments presents a striking 

 similitude to the jib and mainsail of a sloop full spread, 



* Report on the Geology of the Lake Superior Land District, part 

 ii., p. 124 (1857). These authors have given the fullest and most exact 

 account of the Pictured Rocks that has yet been published. Schoolcraft, 

 at an early period, undertook to describe this range of cliffs and illustrate 

 the scenery, but with very poor success. Harper's Magazine, vol. xxxiv.. 

 p. 081 (May, 1867), contains a lively and interesting paper on the "Pic- 

 tured Rocks," embodying several good illustrations. Some of the follow- 

 ing views are from photographs by "Watson, taken on an excursion by a 

 party from the University of Michigan in 1868, under the leadership of 

 Dr. A. E. Foote. 



