28 The American Geoloc/ist. January, 1895 
several places by slightly higher patches of ground, and near 
Hessel it is bounded by low, broken, stony ridges which have 
more of the appearance of glacial than littoral forms. The 
first bluff rises about 40 feet at its edge and 20 feet more a 
hundred yards back. It is composed of sandy clay with many 
pebbles and small boulders, except at the top, where the clay 
is replaced by sand. 
From this the second terrace rises grudually for about a 
mile to the foot of another steep bluff, where its altitude is 
about 200 feet above the lake. It is swampy, like the back of 
the first tefrace. The second bluff' is slightl}^ higher than the 
first one, and shows two feet or less of rounded gravel and 
small boulders overlying sandy clay with subangular stones. 
Back of the edge above there are signs of wave action in half 
formed gravelly ridges and small, low terraces. From this 
place the surface rises gradually northward, with some un- 
even features, to the last mentioned locality of the highest 
beach. 
At another time we visited the Cheneaux islands, which lie 
along the shore to the east of Hessel. None of them rise 
higher than 50 to 60 feet above the lake. Their surfaces are 
generally stony. In some places erratic boulders are very 
abundant. Many such may be seen along the path east of 
the Elliott House. 
It may therefore be regarded as a fixed fact that at the 
maximum of submergence the stretch of water between Mack- 
inac and the Canadian highlands back of Sault Ste. Marie 
was broken only by the Munuscong islands. The importance 
of the presence of ancient islands in the area of submergence 
can hardly be overestimated, especially if they are situated 
well out from the mainland. Each one furnishes a new point 
of support for the restoration of the former water plane, and 
must prove valuable in the ultimate study of the earth's his- 
tory as disclosed in the deformation of former water levels. 
There are many more of these ancient islands still unexplored 
within the basins of the upper lakes. 
Gkos Cap. 
Two days before the Munuscong excursion, we made a visit 
to the high Gros Cap region which lies west of St. Ignace and 
borders the shore of lake Michigan. It is a flat topped, ele- 
